RHYTHM AND BLUES (the infradian ones)

All people have rhythms which the body evolved to follow and tries very hard to continue to do so despite the many disruptions of modern life.

If we can understand these rhythms and seek to work with them, instead of against them, we will have a powerful tool with which to raise performance.

Infradian rhythms go longer than a day, and are the least well understood by science, though people have known about them for many centuries, maybe millennia. The most well known Infradian rhythm is the menstrual cycle, which roughly equates to a month. Men are also subject to this cycle, with testosterone peaking it is thought to synchronise reproduction with a female. There are also circaseptan (weekly) and circasemiseptan (half weekly) rhythms.

Not much is understood about Infradian rhythms, but there are a few points around performance. If you menstruate then you have to work with your rhythm to identify the best times for peak performance, more details can be found here

For men there may be peaks of testosterone over an Infradian rhythm, meaning a few days, this may be exploited for activity requiring a high level aggression, such as physical training or some sports.

I look forward to learning more about this and sharing with you.