Biological rhythms of the body are changes in the nature and intensity of biological processes in the body that have a certain periodicity. They are present in every living organism and are so accurate that they are even called the "biological clock" or "internal clock". In fact, it is the biorhythms that govern our lives, although we are not even aware of this. But if you think about it, the importance of human biological rhythms becomes obvious, because even the main organ - the heart, works in a certain rhythm, which is set by the very "internal clock". But what are these biological rhythms and what role do they play in human lives, what is their significance? Let's take a closer look at these issues.

Types of biological rhythms

All biological rhythms are divided into certain types. At the same time, there are several different classifications based on different criteria. The most common, one might even say, the main classification, is the one in which the criterion is the length of the period of biological rhythms.

According to this classification, there are circadian, ultradian, infradian, circumlunar and lunar-monthly biological rhythms. Circadian rhythms have a periodicity of about twenty-four hours and are the most studied of all. Ultradian rhythms are about hourly. Infradian - rhythms whose frequency is more than twenty-four hours. The remaining two biological rhythms are associated with the lunar phases.

There is also a classification of biorhythms according to the source of origin. They are divided into physiological, geophysical and geosocial. Physiological - these are the biorhythms of the internal organs of a person, which do not depend on external factors. Geophysical biorhythms are already closely dependent on external environmental factors. And geosocial rhythms are not innate, unlike the first two, and are formed under the influence of both environmental factors and under the influence of social factors.

The role of biological rhythms in human life

There is a very conditional, according to scientists chronobiologists, theory of three biorhythms. According to her, the state of a person is determined by three biorhythms: physical, intellectual and emotional. And there are days when some biorhythms are more active than others, since they all have a different degree of periodicity. That is why on certain days and at certain times there are bursts, for example, of physical activity in a bad mood, or outbursts of positive emotions, and perhaps there is a great desire to engage in some kind of mental activity.

That is, the activity of the human body and its condition completely depend on biorhythms. Therefore, you should not “force” your body. On the contrary, you need to listen to it and use your own resources wisely.

For example, sleep and its meaning, like biological rhythm is perhaps one of the most important. That is why you can’t go to bed too late or sleep too little, because this implies a violation of absolutely all body biorhythms. In general, scientists have found that the best sleep occurs between twenty-three hours and seven. And going to bed after midnight is very harmful for mental activity, that is, intellectual biorhythms.

We must not forget that a person is still part of nature, therefore, the phases of the moon also influence him. For example, many people experience low energy during the new moon and increased activity during the full moon.

biological rhythms

All life on our planet bears the imprint of the rhythmic pattern of events characteristic of our Earth. A person also lives in a complex system of biorhythms, from short ones - at the molecular level - with a period of several seconds, to global ones, associated with annual changes in solar activity. Biological rhythm is one of the most important tools for studying the time factor in the activity of living systems and their temporal organization.

Biological rhythms or biorhythms are more or less regular changes in the nature and intensity of biological processes. The ability for such changes in vital activity is inherited and found in almost all living organisms. They can be observed in individual cells, tissues and organs, in whole organisms and in populations. [

We highlight the following important achievements of chronobiology:

1. Biological rhythms are found at all levels of organization of wildlife - from unicellular to the biosphere. This indicates that biorhythm is one of the most common properties of living systems.

2. Biological rhythms are recognized as the most important mechanism for regulating body functions, providing homeostasis, dynamic balance and adaptation processes in biological systems.

3. It has been established that biological rhythms, on the one hand, have an endogenous nature and genetic regulation, on the other hand, their implementation is closely related to the modifying factor of the external environment, the so-called time sensors. This connection in the basis of the unity of the organism with the environment largely determines the ecological patterns.

4. Provisions on the temporal organization of living systems, including man, one of the basic principles of biological organization, are formulated. The development of these provisions is very important for the analysis of the pathological states of living systems.

5. Biological rhythms of the sensitivity of organisms to the action of factors of a chemical (among them drugs) and physical nature have been discovered. This became the basis for the development of chronopharmacology, i.e. ways of using drugs, taking into account the dependence of their action on the phases of the biological rhythms of the functioning of the body and on the state of its temporal organization, which changes with the development of the disease.

6. Patterns of biological rhythms are taken into account in the prevention, diagnosis and treatment of diseases.

Biorhythms are divided into physiological and ecological. Physiological rhythms, as a rule, have periods from fractions of a second to several minutes. These are, for example, the rhythms of pressure, heartbeat and blood pressure. There are data on the influence, for example, of the Earth's magnetic field on the period and amplitude of the human encephalogram.

Ecological rhythms coincide in duration with any natural rhythm of the environment. These include daily, seasonal (annual), tidal and lunar rhythms. Thanks to ecological rhythms, the body is oriented in time and prepares in advance for the expected conditions of existence. So, some flowers open shortly before dawn, as if knowing that the sun will soon rise. Many animals hibernate or migrate before the onset of cold weather. Thus, ecological rhythms serve the body as a biological clock.

Rhythm is a universal property of living systems. The processes of growth and development of the organism have a rhythmic character. Various indicators of the structures of biological objects can be subject to rhythmic changes: the orientation of molecules, the tertiary molecular structure, the type of crystallization, the form of growth, the concentration of ions, etc. The dependence of the daily periodicity inherent in plants on the phase of their development has been established. In the bark of young shoots of an apple tree, a daily rhythm of the content of the biologically active substance phloridzin was revealed, the characteristics of which changed according to the phases of flowering, intensive growth of shoots, etc. One of the most interesting manifestations of the biological measurement of time is the daily frequency of opening and closing flowers and plants. Each plant "falls asleep" and "wakes up" at a strictly defined time of day. Early in the morning (at 4 o'clock) chicory and wild rose open their flowers, at 5 o'clock - poppy, at 6 o'clock - dandelion, field carnation, at 7 o'clock - bluebell, garden potatoes, at 8 o'clock marigolds and bindweed, at 9-10 o'clock - marigolds, coltsfoot. There are also flowers that open their corollas at night. At 20 o'clock fragrant tobacco flowers open, and at 21 o'clock - adonis and night violets. Also, at a strictly defined time, the flowers close: at noon - thistle field, at 13-14 o'clock - potatoes, at 14-15 o'clock - dandelion, at 15-16 o'clock - poppy, at 16-17 o'clock - marigolds, at 17 -18 o'clock coltsfoot, at 18-19 o'clock - buttercup, at 19-20 o'clock - wild rose. The opening and closing of flowers also depends on many conditions, for example, on the geographical location of the area or the time of sunrise and sunset.

There are rhythmic changes in the body's sensitivity to damaging environmental factors. In experiments on animals, it was found that sensitivity to chemical and radiation damage fluctuates very noticeably during the day: at the same dose, the mortality of mice, depending on the time of day, varied from 0 to 10%

The most important external factor influencing the rhythms of the organism is photoperiodicity. In higher animals, it is assumed that there are two ways of photoperiodic regulation of biological rhythms: through the organs of vision and further through the rhythm of the body's motor activity and through extrasensory perception of light. There are several concepts of endogenous regulation of biological rhythms: genetic regulation, regulation involving cell membranes. Most scientists are inclined to the opinion of polygenic control over rhythms. It is known that not only the nucleus, but also the cytoplasm of the cell takes part in the regulation of biological rhythms.

The central place among the rhythmic processes is occupied by the circadian rhythm, which is of the greatest importance for the body. The concept of circadian (circadian) rhythm was introduced in 1959 by Halberg. The circadian rhythm is a modification of the daily rhythm with a period of 24 hours, proceeds under constant conditions and belongs to free-flowing rhythms. These are rhythms with a period not imposed by external conditions. They are congenital, endogenous, i.e. due to the properties of the organism itself. The period of circadian rhythms lasts 23-28 hours in plants and 23-25 ​​hours in animals. Since organisms are usually in an environment with cyclical changes in its conditions, the rhythms of organisms are drawn out by these changes and become diurnal.

Circadian rhythms are found in all representatives of the animal kingdom and at all levels of organization - from cellular pressure to interpersonal relationships. Numerous experiments on animals have established the presence of circadian rhythms of motor activity, body and skin temperature, pulse and respiration rates, blood pressure and diuresis. The content of various substances in tissues and organs, for example, glucose, sodium and potassium in the blood, plasma and serum in the blood, growth hormones, etc., turned out to be subject to diurnal fluctuations. In essence, all endocrine and hematological indicators, indicators of the nervous, muscular , cardiovascular, respiratory and digestive systems. In this rhythm, the content and activity of dozens of substances in various tissues and organs of the body, in blood, urine, sweat, saliva, the intensity of metabolic processes, the energy and plastic supply of cells, tissues and organs. The sensitivity of the organism to various environmental factors and the tolerance of functional loads are subordinated to the same circadian rhythm. In total, about 500 functions and processes with circadian rhythms have been identified in humans so far.

The biorhythms of the body - daily, monthly, annual - have practically remained unchanged since primitive times and cannot keep up with the rhythms of modern life. Each person during the day clearly traced the peaks and recessions of the most important life systems. The most important biorhythms can be recorded in chronograms. The main indicators in them are body temperature, pulse, respiratory rate at rest and other indicators that can only be determined with the help of specialists. Knowing the normal individual chronogram allows you to identify the dangers of the disease, organize your activities in accordance with the capabilities of the body, and avoid disruptions in its work.

The most strenuous work must be done during those hours when the main systems of the body function with maximum intensity. If a person is a "dove", then the peak of working capacity falls on three o'clock in the afternoon. If the "lark" - then the time of the greatest activity of the body falls at noon. "Owls" are recommended to perform the most intense work at 5-6 pm.

Much has been said about the influence of the 11-year cycle of solar activity on the Earth's biosphere. But not everyone is aware of the close relationship that exists between the phase of the solar cycle and the anthropometric data of young people. Kyiv researchers conducted a statistical analysis of the indicators of body weight and height of young men who came to the recruiting stations. It turns out that the acceleration is very subject to the solar cycle: the upward trend is modulated by waves synchronous with the period of "polarity reversal" of the Sun's magnetic field (and this is a double 11-year cycle, i.e. 22 years). By the way, longer periods, covering several centuries, have also been revealed in the activity of the Sun.

Of great practical importance is also the study of other multi-day (about monthly, annual, etc.) rhythms, for which such periodic changes in nature as the change of seasons, lunar cycles, etc., serve as a time gauge.

In recent years, the theory of "three rhythms" has gained wide popularity, which is based on the theory of the complete independence of these multi-day rhythms both from external factors and from age-related changes in the organism itself. The trigger mechanism for these exceptional rhythms is only the moment of birth (according to other versions, the moment of conception) of a person. A man was born, and rhythms arose with a period of 23, 28 and 33 days, which determine the level of his physical, emotional and intellectual activity. The graphic representation of these rhythms is a sinusoid. One-day periods in which the phases switch ("zero" points on the graph) and which are supposedly characterized by a decrease in the corresponding level of activity, are called critical days. If the same "zero" point is crossed simultaneously by two or three sinusoids, then such "double" or "triple" critical days are especially dangerous.

Multiple studies conducted to test this hypothesis, however, did not confirm the existence of these super-unique biorhythms. Superunique because no similar rhythms have been found in animals; no known biorhythms fit into an ideal sinusoid; periods of biorhythms are not constant and depend both on external conditions and on age-related changes; in nature, no phenomena have been found that would be synchronizers for all people and at the same time be "personally" dependent on the birthday of each person.

Special studies of fluctuations in the functional state of people have shown that they are in no way connected with the date of birth. Similar studies of athletes conducted in our country, in the USA and other countries did not confirm the relationship between the level of working capacity and sports results with the rhythms proposed in the hypothesis. The absence of any connection between various accidents at work, accidents and other traffic accidents with the critical days of the people responsible for these events is shown. The methods of statistical processing of data, allegedly indicating the presence of three rhythms, were also tested, and the fallacy of these methods was established. Thus, the hypothesis of "three biorhythms" does not find confirmation. However, its appearance and development have a positive significance, since they have drawn attention to an urgent problem - the study of multi-day biorhythms that reflect the influence of cosmic factors (the Sun, the Moon, other planets) on living organisms and play an important role in human life and activity.

Rhythm is often associated with the waltz. Indeed, his melody is a harmonious series of sounds set in a certain order. But the essence of rhythm is much broader than music. These are sunrises and sunsets, winters and springs, and magnetic storms - any phenomenon and any process that repeats periodically. The rhythms of life, or, as they say, biorhythms, are recurring processes in living matter. Have they always been? Who invented them? How are they related to each other and what can they influence? Why do they need nature at all? Maybe the rhythms of life only get in the way, creating unnecessary boundaries and not allowing you to develop freely? Let's try to figure it out.

Where did biorhythms come from?

This question is consonant with the question of how our world arose. The answer may be this: biorhythms were created by nature itself. Think about it: in it all natural processes, regardless of their scale, are cyclical. Periodically, some stars are born and others die, activity on the Sun rises and falls, year after year one season is replaced by another, morning is followed by day, then evening, night, and then morning again. These are the rhythms of life known to all of us, in proportion to which there is life on Earth, and the Earth itself too. Obeying the biorhythms created by nature, people, animals, birds, plants, amoebas and ciliates-shoes live, even the cells of which we all consist. Engaged in the study of the conditions for the emergence, nature and significance of biorhythms for all living beings of the planet, a very interesting science is biorhythmology. It is a separate branch of another science - chronobiology, which studies not only rhythmic processes in living organisms, but also their connection with the rhythms of the Sun, Moon, and other planets.

Why are biorhythms needed?

The essence of biorhythms is in the stability of the flow of phenomena or processes. Stability, in turn, helps living organisms adapt to the environment, develop their own life programs that allow them to give healthy offspring and continue their kind. It turns out that the rhythms of life are the mechanism by which life on the planet exists and develops. An example of this is the ability of many flowers to open at certain hours. Based on this phenomenon, Carl Linnaeus even created the world's first flower clock without hands and a dial. Flowers showed time in them. As it turned out, this feature is associated with pollination.

Each flower, which opens by the hour, has its own specific pollinator, and it is for him that he releases nectar at the appointed hour. The insect, as it were, knows (thanks to the biorhythms that have developed in its body as well) when and where it needs to go for food. As a result, the flower does not waste energy on the production of nectar when there is no consumer for it, and the insect does not waste energy on unnecessary searches for the right food.

What other examples of the usefulness of biorhythms are there? Seasonal flights of birds, migration of fish for spawning, search for a sexual partner in a certain period in order to have time to give birth and raise offspring.

The importance of biorhythms for a person

There are dozens of examples of wise patterns between biorhythms and the existence of living organisms. So, the correct rhythm of a person's life is subject to the daily routine, unloved by many. Some of us hate to eat or go to bed at fixed hours, and our bodies are much better off if we follow the cycle. For example, the stomach, having got used to the schedule of food intake, will produce gastric juice by this time, which will begin to digest food, and not the walls of the stomach itself, rewarding us with an ulcer. The same applies to rest. If you do it at about the same time, the body will develop a tendency at such hours to slow down the work of many systems and restore the expended forces. Knocking down the body from the schedule, you can provoke unpleasant conditions and earn serious diseases, from bad mood to headache, from a nervous breakdown to heart failure. The simplest example of this is the feeling of weakness throughout the body that occurs after a sleepless night.

Physiological biorhythms

There are so many rhythms of life that they decided to systematize them, dividing them into two main categories - the physiological rhythms of the life of organisms and the ecological ones. Physiological include cyclic reactions in the cells that make up the organs, the beating of the heart (pulse), the process of breathing. The length of physiological biorhythms is very small, only up to several minutes, and there are those that last only a fraction of a second. For each individual, they are their own, regardless of belonging to a population or family ties. That is, even twins can be different. A characteristic feature of physiological biorhythms is their high dependence on a number of factors. Phenomena in the environment, the emotional and psychological state of the individual, diseases, any little thing can cause a failure of one or several physiological biorhythms at once.

Ecological biorhythms

This category includes rhythms that have the duration of natural cyclic processes, so they can be both short and long. For example, a day lasts 24 hours, and the period is extended by 11 years! Ecological biorhythms exist by themselves and depend only on very large-scale phenomena. For example, there is an opinion that once the day was shorter because the Earth rotated faster. The stability of ecological biorhythms (the length of the day, the seasons of the year, associated illumination, temperature, humidity and other environmental parameters) in the process of evolution was fixed in the genes of all living organisms, including humans. If a new rhythm of life is artificially created, for example, by interchanging day and night, the organisms are far from being rearranged immediately. This is confirmed by experiments with flowers that were placed in pitch darkness for a long time. For some time they, not seeing the light, continued to open in the morning and close in the evening. It has been experimentally proved that the change of biorhythms has a pathological effect on vital functions. For example, many people with the transfer of clocks to summer and winter time have problems with pressure, nerves, and heart.

Another classification

The German physician and physiologist J. Aschoff proposed to divide the rhythms of life, focusing on the following criteria:

Temporal characteristics, such as periods;

Biological structures (in a population);

Rhythm functions, such as ovulation;

A kind of process that generates a specific rhythm.

Following this classification, biorhythms are distinguished:

Infradian (last more than a day, for example, hibernation of some animals, menstrual cycle);

Lunar (moon phases that greatly affect all living things, for example, with a new moon, the number of heart attacks, crimes, car accidents increases);

Ultradian (lasts less than a day, for example, concentration of attention, drowsiness);

Circadian (lasting about a day). As it turned out, the period of circadian rhythms is not associated with external conditions and is genetically laid down in living organisms, that is, it is innate. Circadian rhythms include the daily content of plasma, glucose or potassium in the blood of living beings, the activity of growth hormones, the functions of hundreds of substances in tissues (in humans and animals - in urine, saliva, sweat, in plants - in leaves, stems, flowers) . It is on the basis of herbalists that they advise harvesting a particular plant at strictly defined hours. We humans have identified over 500 processes with circadian dynamics.

Chronomedicine

This is the name of a new field in medicine that pays close attention to circadian biorhythms. There are already dozens of discoveries in chronomedicine. It has been established that many pathological conditions of a person are in a strictly defined rhythm. For example, strokes and heart attacks are more common in the morning, from 7 a.m. to 9 a.m., and from 9 p.m. to 12 a.m. their occurrence is minimal, the pain is more annoying from 3 a.m. to 8 a.m., hepatic colic more actively causes suffering at about one a.m., and hypertensive the crisis is stronger around midnight.

On the basis of discoveries in chronomedicine, chronotherapy arose, which develops schemes for taking drugs during periods of their maximum impact on a diseased organ. For example, the duration of the work of antihistamines drunk in the morning lasts almost 17 hours, and taken in the evening - only 9 hours. It is logical that diagnoses are made in a new way with the help of chronodiagnostics.

Biorhythms and chronotypes

Thanks to the efforts of chronomedics, a more serious attitude appeared to the division of people according to their chronotypes into owls, larks and pigeons. Owls, with a constant rhythm of life that is not artificially changed, as a rule, wake up themselves around 11 am. Their activity begins to appear from 2 o'clock in the afternoon, at night they can easily stay awake until almost morning.

Larks easily get up without a wake-up call at 6 in the morning. At the same time, they feel great. Their activity is noticeable somewhere up to one in the afternoon, then the larks need rest, after which they are again able to do business until about 6-7 pm. Forced wakefulness after 9-10 pm is difficult for these people to endure.

Pigeons are an intermediate chronotype. They easily wake up a little later than larks and a little earlier than owls, they can actively do business all day, but they should go to bed at about 11 pm.

If owls are forced to work from dawn, and larks are identified on the night shift, these people will begin to get seriously ill, and the enterprise will suffer losses due to the poor working capacity of such workers. Therefore, many managers try to set work schedules according to the biorhythms of workers.

We and modernity

Our great-great-grandfathers lived more measuredly. Sunrise and sunset served as clocks, seasonal natural processes served as calendars. The modern rhythm of life dictates completely different conditions to us, regardless of our chronotype. Technological progress, as you know, does not stand still, constantly changing many processes to which our body barely has time to adapt. Hundreds of drugs are also being created that significantly affect the biorhythms of living organisms, for example, the timing of fruit ripening, the number of individuals in populations. Moreover, we are trying to correct the biorhythms of the Earth itself and even other planets by experimenting with magnetic fields, changing the climate as we please. This leads to the fact that chaos arises in our biorhythms formed over the years. Science is still looking for answers on how all this will affect the future of mankind.

Frantic rhythm of life

If the impact of changes in biorhythms as a whole on civilization is still being studied, then the impact of these changes on a particular person is already more or less clear. The current life is such that you need to manage to do dozens of things in order to be successful and implement your projects.

It is not even dependent, but in bondage to its daily plans and responsibilities, especially women. They need to be able to allocate time for family, home, work, study, their health and self-improvement, and so on, although they still have the same 24 hours in a day. Many of us live in fear that if they fail, others will take their place and they will be left out. So they set themselves a frantic pace of life, when they have to do a lot on the go, fly, run. This does not lead to success, but to depression, nervous breakdowns, stress, diseases of internal organs. In the frantic pace of life, many simply do not feel pleasure from it, do not get joy.

In some countries, an alternative to the crazy race for happiness has become the new Slow Life movement, whose supporters try to get joy not from an endless string of deeds and events, but from living each of them with maximum pleasure. For example, they like to just walk down the street, just look at the flowers or listen to the birds singing. They are sure that the fast pace of life has nothing to do with happiness, despite the fact that it helps to get more material wealth and climb higher up the corporate ladder.

Pseudo-theories about biorhythm

Soothsayers and oracles have long been interested in such an important phenomenon as biorhythms. Creating their theories and systems, they try to connect the life of each person and his future with numerology, the movement of the planets, and various signs. At the end of the last century, the theory of "three rhythms" soared to the peak of popularity. For each person, the moment of birth is allegedly the trigger mechanism. At the same time, physiological, emotional and intellectual rhythms of life arise, which have their peaks of activity and decline. Their periods were 23, 28, and 33 days, respectively. Proponents of the theory drew three sinusoids of these rhythms superimposed on one grid of coordinates. At the same time, the days on which the intersection of two or three sinusoids fell, the so-called zero zones, were considered very unfavorable. Experimental studies completely refuted this theory, proving that people have periods of biorhythms of their activity can be very different.

The human body is not just a collection of cells. This is a complex, interdependent system of physiological processes and connections. For this mechanism to work smoothly, a clear program and the correct work schedule are needed. The function of this vital program is performed by human biological rhythms.

Scientists have proven that human biorhythms change significantly with age. For example, the biorhythmic cycle of infants is quite small. Their change of activity and relaxation occurs every 3-4 hours. Until about 7–8 years old, it will not work to understand the “lark” of the baby or the “owl”. The older the child, the longer the cycles of biorhythms become. They become diurnal by the end of puberty.

What are biorhythms

By duration, all biological rhythms can be divided into several groups:

• high-frequency, the interval of which is no more than 30 minutes;
• mid-frequency, are longer, the interval varies from 30 minutes to 7 days;
• low-frequency - from a week to a year.

Motility of the stomach, changes in the emotional background and concentration of attention, sleep cycles, sexual activity are strictly fixed rhythms, their interval is 90 minutes.
Fact: the nature of the human rhythmic field is inherited.
Among the numerous biorhythms of the human body, the main ones are the following:

1. One and a half hour. It is expressed in a change in the neuronal activity of the brain. Occurs both during sleep and while awake. Influences fluctuations in mental abilities. Thus, every 90 minutes there is low and high excitability, peace and anxiety.
2. Diurnal - the rhythm of sleep and wakefulness.
3. Monthly. Until recently, it only referred to the menstrual cycle of women, but recent studies have shown that men are also subject to changes in performance and mood.
4. Annual. Seasons affect hemoglobin and cholesterol levels. Spring and summer bring increased muscle excitability, as well as greater photosensitivity.

There is a theory that there are also rhythms with a cycle of 2, 3, 11 and 22 years. They are influenced by meteorological and heliogeographical processes.

People are social beings who have managed to adjust to the weekly rhythm over the years.

Having long been accustomed to work 5-6 days of the week, and rest 1-2, their level of performance is constantly fluctuating. Moreover, Monday is characterized by a reduced craving for work, and the maximum rise occurs from Tuesday to Thursday.

Functions of biorhythms

Biological rhythms have a huge impact on the life of the body, because they perform very important functions.

1. Optimization of the vital activity of the organism. Any biological process cannot proceed all the time in the active phase; it needs regular recovery. Therefore, in order to save resources, there is a change in the minimum and maximum activation phases of the cycle.
2. Time factor. This function affects the ability of the human body to function regardless of its consciousness. It helps to adapt to changes in the external environment, weather phenomena.
3. Regulatory. The normal functioning of the central nervous system is impossible without the appearance of the so-called dominant. It is a group of nerve cells combined into one system, as a result of which an individual rhythm is created for each person.
4. Unifying. This function, coupled with the principle of multiplicity, affects a person's ability to adapt their biorhythms to daily ones.

How to set the biological clock

In case of non-compliance with the sleep and rest regimen, stressful situations, change of time zones, irregular nutrition, the biological clock fails, which cannot but affect the well-being and performance of a person. In order to set them up, you must adhere to the following rules:

• measured lifestyle;
• eating and sleeping at the same time;
• rejection of bad habits;
• avoidance of overwork;
• phototherapy - create additional lighting in the daytime, especially in cloudy weather;
• an excellent assistant to "tune in" will be the alarm clock, most importantly, do not be lazy;
• sunrise naturally synchronizes its own biorhythms with natural ones.

Which organ is "responsible" for biorhythms

The main "clock" of the body is the hypothalamus. This tiny organ, consisting of 20,000 neurons, influences the functioning of all systems. Although modern research has not given an answer to the question of how exactly this mechanism works, there is a theory that the main signal is sunlight.
Everyone has long known that getting up with the sun and lying down immediately after sunset is extremely beneficial for health and performance.

What is a "chronotype"

There are situations when you have to stay up all night. However, you should not abuse the resources of the body. During wakefulness, its main task is to process the accumulated nutrients. This process is necessary for good daytime performance.

At night, the production of growth hormone is activated. It starts anabolic processes. Regular lack of sleep causes a feeling of hunger. People are drawn to sweets and fats, their metabolism slows down, and this is a direct road to obesity!

At the same time, all people differ in chronotype. "Larks" are already on their feet from 6-7 in the morning, but by 21-22 hours their energy runs out. It is difficult for "owls" to get up in the morning, their performance increases only in the evening.

Modern researchers distinguish more "pigeons". These people are activated by the middle of the day.
Fact: statistics claim that in the world as many as 40% of "owls", a quarter of the population consider themselves "larks", the rest are "pigeons". But most often they are mixed species.

Which of the "feathered" is easier to live

Given the modern regimes of work and rest, it becomes clear that pigeons are the most fortunate. Indeed, their biorhythms allow them to better adapt to modern life.
Larks are healthier than owls and pigeons, but they have a harder time adapting to regime change.

Do not rush to feel sorry for owls. Yes, their efficiency is late and appears only at the end of the working day. However, by the age of 50, their health characteristics are much better than those of larks. This is due to their high adaptive capabilities. It is also believed that there are many optimists among owls, which cannot be said about larks.

It turns out that not only scientists are interested in chronotypes. European employers, when hiring employees, are asked to indicate their biorhythmic indicators. For example, night work is better for owls, because their efficiency and productivity at this time will be higher than that of larks. Thus, the number of marriages and accidents becomes much less.

We are not as lucky as the Europeans. But there is hope that in the near future, each "feathered" will have its own schedule.

The influence of the daily cycle on the internal organs

It is important for each person to know when and how the work of internal organs is activated, because the choice of the optimal time for taking medications and carrying out cleansing procedures depends on this.

1. A heart. Emotional and physical stress is best transferred to the daytime (from 11 am to 1 pm). Do not load the motor from 23:00 to 1:00 in the morning.
2. Colon. The maximum working capacity of the body falls on the time from 5 to 7 hours, from 17 to 19 hours it is in the calm phase.
3. Bladder. The accumulation of fluid occurs from 15 to 17 hours, from 3 to 5 in the morning - minimal activity.
4. Lungs. Open the window from 3 to 5 in the morning, at this time it is important for the human body to “breathe”. The minimum activity falls on the time from 15 to 17 hours.
5. Liver. Active regulation of blood and bile occurs from 1 to 3 hours, weak activity is observed at 13 - 15 hours.
6. Vision. This information will be of interest to drivers. Driving at 2 am is especially difficult.
7. Stomach. “Eat breakfast yourself…” – says a well-known proverb and for good reason! After all, the peak performance of the stomach falls on 7-9 o'clock in the morning. From 19 to 21 hours the stomach should be allowed to rest.
8. Gallbladder. From 11 p.m. to 1 a.m. there is an active production of bile, the minimum is from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m.

Interesting! The hardest time to deal with loneliness is between 20:00 and 22:00.
So what should be the optimal regime of biorhythms? We get up at 4 am, have breakfast at 5 o'clock, have lunch at 10 o'clock, have an afternoon snack at 15 o'clock, dinner at 19 o'clock. At 21 o'clock we go to bed!
The main thing is to listen to your biological clock and let it coincide with the biorhythms of nature!

General ideas about biorhythms. The rhythm of processes can be traced in everything and everywhere: according to the law of rhythm, a person and all the nature surrounding him, the Earth, the Cosmos live.

Once upon a time, nature “started” the biological clock of the living in such a way that it would run in accordance with its inherent cyclicity. The change of day and night, the alternation of the seasons, the rotation of the Moon around the Earth and the Earth around the Sun are the initial conditions for the development of the organism. Biological rhythm has become the general principle of the living, enshrined in heredity, an integral feature of life, its temporal basis, its regulator.

Biorhythms- periodic changes in the intensity and nature of biological processes that are self-sustaining and self-reproducing in any conditions.

Biorhythms are characterized by:

• period- the duration of one cycle of oscillations per unit time;
• rhythm frequency - the frequency of periodic processes per unit of time;
• phase - part of the cycle, measured in fractions of the period (initial, final, etc.);
• amplitude - range of fluctuations between maximum and minimum.

The following cycles are distinguished by duration:

• high-frequency - lasting up to 30 minutes;
• mid-frequency - from 0.5 to 24 hours, 20-28 hours and 29 hours - 6 days;
• low-frequency - with a period of 7 days, 20 days, 30 days, about one year.

Table. Classification of human biorhythms

Characteristic	Duration
Ultradian (performance level, hormonal changes, etc.)
Circadian (level of performance, intensity of metabolism and activity of internal organs, etc.)
Infradian	28 hours - 4 days
Periweekly (circaseptane) (e.g. performance level)	7 ± 3 days
Perimenstrual (circatrigint)	30 ± 5 days
ultranular	Several months
Circannual	About one year

The human body is characterized by a whole spectrum of rhythmically manifested processes and functions, which is combined into a single oscillatory system coordinated in time, which has the following features: the presence of a connection between the rhythms of different processes; the presence of synchrony, or multiplicity, in the flow of certain rhythms; the presence of hierarchy (the subordination of some rhythms to others).

On fig. 1 shows a scheme of biorhythms, which reflects part of the spectrum of rhythms of human life. (In fact, everything is rhythmic in the human body: the work of internal organs, tissues, cells, electrical activity of the brain, metabolism.)

In humans, four main biological rhythms have been identified and studied, among many others:

One and a half hour rhythm (from 90 to 100 minutes) of alternation of neuronal activity of the brain both during wakefulness and during sleep, which is the cause of one and a half hour fluctuations in mental performance and one and a half hour cycles of brain bioelectric activity during sleep. Every hour and a half, a person experiences alternately low, then increased excitability, then peace, then anxiety;

Monthly rhythm. Monthly cycles are subject to certain changes in a woman's body. Recently, a monthly rhythm of working capacity and mood of men has been established;

Annual rhythm. There are cyclic changes in the body every year during the change of seasons. It has been established that at different times of the year, the content of hemoglobin and cholesterol in the blood is different; muscle excitability is higher in spring and summer and weaker in autumn and winter; maximum light sensitivity of the eye is also observed in spring and early summer, and decreases by autumn and winter.

It is suggested that there are rhythms of 2-, 3-, and 11-22-year-olds; their connection with meteorological and heliogeographic phenomena, which have approximately the same cyclicity, is considered the most probable.

In addition to the rhythms given above, human life is subject to social rhythms. People get used to them all the time. One of them is weekly. Dividing for many centuries every month into weeks - six working days, one day for rest, man himself accustomed himself to it. This regime, which does not exist in nature and has emerged as a result of social causes, has become an integral measure of human life and society. In the weekly cycle, first of all, working capacity changes. Moreover, the same regularity can be traced among population groups that differ in age and nature of work: among workers and engineers at industrial enterprises, among schoolchildren and students. Monday starts with a relatively low working capacity, from Tuesday to Thursday - the crest of the week - it picks up the maximum rise, and from Friday it falls again.

Rice. 1. Rhythms of human life

Biological significance of biorhythms. Biorhythms perform at least four main functions in the human body.

The first function is to optimize the vital activity of the organism. Cyclicity is the basic rule for the behavior of biosystems, a necessary condition for their functioning. This is due to the fact that biological processes cannot proceed intensively for a long time; they represent an alternation of maximum and minimum, because bringing the function to a maximum only in certain phases of each period of the cycle is more economical than stable continuous maintenance of such a maximum. In biosystems, all activity must be followed by a decrease in activity for rest and recovery.

Therefore, the principle of a rhythmic change in activity, in which energy and plastic resources are consumed, and its inhibition, designed to restore these expenditures, was originally laid down at the emergence (birth) of any biological system, including humans.

The second function is a reflection of the time factor. Biorhythms are a biological form of transformation of the scale of objective, astronomical time into subjective, biological time. Its purpose is to correlate the cycles of life processes with the cycles of objective time. The main characteristics of biological time as a special form of moving matter are its independence from our consciousness and its relationship with physical time. Due to this, the temporary organization of biological processes in the body and their coordination with periods of fluctuations in the external environment are carried out, which ensures the adaptation of the body to the environment and reflects the unity of animate and inanimate nature.

The third function is regulatory. Rhythm is a working mechanism for creating functional systems in the central nervous system (CNS) and the basic principle of regulation of functions. According to modern concepts, the creation of working mechanisms in the central nervous system is ensured by the synchronization of the rhythmic high-frequency activity of its constituent nerve cells. In this way, individual nerve cells are united into working ensembles, and ensembles into a common synchronous functional system. The rhythm of the discharges of the brain is of fundamental importance for the predominance of the main reaction at the moment, among others. This is how the dominant, the currently dominant functional system of the central nervous system, is created. It unites various centers in a single rhythm and determines their current sequential activity by imposing “its own” rhythm. This is how neural programs are created in the structures of the brain that determine behavior.

The fourth function is integration (unifying). Biorhythm is a working mechanism for combining all levels of organization of the body into a single supersystem. Integration is implemented according to the principle of hierarchy: the high-frequency rhythms of a low level of organization are subject to the mid- and low-frequency levels of a higher level of organization. In other words, high-frequency biorhythms of cells, tissues, organs and systems of the body obey the basic mid-frequency daily rhythm. This association is carried out according to the principle of multiplicity.

General characteristics of biorhythms

Human life is inextricably linked with the time factor. One of the effective forms of adaptation of the organism to the external environment is the rhythm of physiological functions.

Biorhythm— a self-oscillatory process in a biological system, characterized by a successive alternation of phases of tension and relaxation, when one or another parameter successively reaches a maximum or minimum value. The law by which this process occurs can be described by various functions, and in the simplest version, by a sinusoidal curve.

To date, about 400 biorhythms have been described in humans and animals. Naturally, there was a need to classify them. Several principles for the classification of biorhythms have been proposed. Most often they are classified on the basis of the frequency of oscillations (oscillations), or periods. There are the following basic rhythms:

• High frequency, or microrhythms (from fractions of a second to 30 minutes). Oscillations at the molecular level (synthesis and breakdown of ATP, etc.), heart rate (HR), respiratory rate, and the frequency of intestinal peristalsis can serve as an example.
• Medium frequency (from 30 minutes to 28 hours). This group includes ultradian (up to 20 hours) and circadian, or circadian (circadian - 20-28 hours) rhythms. An example is the alternation of sleep and wakefulness. The circadian rhythm is the main rhythm of human physiological functions.
• Mesorrhythms (lasting from 28 hours to 6-7 days). This includes circoseptal rhythms (about 7 days). They are associated with human performance, they are largely due to the social factor - a working week with rest on the 6th-7th day.
• Macrorhythms (from 20 days to 1 year). These include circanual (circan), or circa-annual rhythms. This group includes seasonal and monthly rhythms (lunar rhythm, ovarian-menstrual cycle in women, etc.).
• Megarhythms (lasting ten or many decades). The most famous of them is the 11-year rhythm of solar activity, which is associated with some processes on Earth - infectious diseases of humans and animals (epidemics and epizootics).

The characteristic of each biorhythm can be described by methods of mathematical analysis and depicted graphically. In the latter case, we are talking about a biorhythmogram, or a chronogram.

As can be seen from fig. 2, the biorhythmogram has a sinusoidal character. It distinguishes between the time period, the phases of tension and relaxation, the amplitude of tension, the amplitude of relaxation, the acrophase of a given biorhythm.

The time period is the most important characteristic of the biorhythm. This is the length of time after which the repetition of the function or state of the organism occurs.

Rice. Fig. 2. Scheme of biorhythmogram on the example of the circadian rhythm of heart rate: 1 — time period (day); 2 - voltage phase (day); 3 - phase of relaxation (night); 4 - voltage amplitude; 5 - relaxation amplitude; 6 - acrophase

Phases of tension and relaxation characterize the increase and decrease in function during the day.

Amplitude- the difference between the maximum and minimum severity of the function in the daytime (tension amplitude) and at night (relaxation amplitude). The total amplitude is the difference between the maximum and minimum expression of the function within the entire daily cycle.

acrophase- the time at which the highest point (maximum level) of this biorhythm falls.

In some cases, the curve takes on a flattened or plateau-like appearance. This occurs at low voltage amplitude. Other varieties are inverted and two-peak biorhythmograms. Inverted curves are characterized by a decrease in the baseline during the daytime, i.e. changing the function in the direction opposite to the usual. This is an unfavorable sign.

Bimodal curves are characterized by two activity peaks during the day. The appearance of the second peak is currently considered as a manifestation of adaptation to the conditions of existence. So, for example, the first peak of human performance (11-13 hours) is a natural manifestation of the biorhythm associated with daily activity. The second rise in working capacity, observed in the evening hours, is due to the need to perform household and other duties.

Origin and regulation of biorhythms

The origin of biorhythms is determined by two factors - endogenous (internal, congenital) and exogenous (external, acquired).

Constant cyclic fluctuations in the various systems of the body were formed in the process of long evolution, and now they are innate. These include many functions: the rhythmic work of the heart, the respiratory system, the brain, etc. These rhythms are called physiological. Several hypotheses of the endogenous nature of biorhythms have been put forward. The multi-oscillatory theory has the largest number of supporters, according to which, within a multicellular organism (human), the main (central) pacemaker (biological clock) can function, imposing its own rhythm on all other systems that are not able to generate their own oscillatory processes. Along with the central pacemaker, there may be secondary oscillators that are hierarchically subordinate to the leader.

Biorhythms that depend on cyclic changes in the environment are acquired and are called ecological. These rhythms are greatly influenced by cosmic factors: the rotation of the Earth around its axis (solar day), the energy influence of the Moon and cyclic changes in the activity of the Sun.

Biorhythms in the body are made up of endogenous - physiological and exogenous - ecological rhythms. The average frequency of rhythms is due to a combination of endogenous and exogenous factors.

It is believed that the central pacemaker is the pineal gland (an endocrine gland located in the diencephalon). However, in humans, this gland functions only up to 15-16 years. According to many scientists, the role of the central synchronizer (biological clock) in humans is taken over by an area of ​​the brain called the hypothalamus.

The control of the change in the state of wakefulness and sleep depends to a large extent on the light factor and is provided by the connections of the cerebral cortex and the thalamus (the center in which impulses from all sense organs are collected), as well as by the activating ascending influences of the reticular formation (mesh structures of the brain that perform an activating function) . An important role is played by direct connections of the retina with the hypothalamus.

Direct and indirect connections of the cerebral cortex and hypothalamic structures provide the emergence of a system of hormonal control of peripheral regulation, acting at all levels - from subcellular to organismic.

Thus, the temporal organization of living matter is based on endogenous nature of biorhythms, corrected by exogenous factors. The stability of the endogenous component of the biological clock is created by the interaction of the nervous and humoral (Latin humor - liquid; here - blood, lymph, tissue fluid) systems. Weakness of one of these links can lead to (violation of biorhythms) and subsequent dysfunctions.

Researchers have proven that in order to constantly improve and train adaptive mechanisms, the body must periodically experience stress, a certain conflict with its physical and social environment. If we consider that periodicity is inherent in the very nature of living systems, then it becomes clear that it is precisely such a dynamic interaction of the organism with the environment that ensures its stability and sustainable viability. The basis of any active activity is the processes of intensive expenditure of the body's vital resources, and at the same time, these reactions are a powerful stimulus for even more intensive recovery processes. It can be argued that dynamic synchronization - the interaction of endogenous and exogenous rhythms - gives the body vitality and stability.