BIORHYTHMS AND THE COLORS OF LIGHT

SUMMARY

I feel that there may be a link between biorhythms and light. In my Theory of Biorhythms I suggested that biorhythms might be related to the changing metabolic activity levels of our cells. It would also seem that light might play a role in biorhythms, since Chronobiologists have found that light is a primary "zeitgebber" (time-setter) for regulating cellular activity.

It is also well known that the colors of light (i.e., the frequency of light) can affect us in different ways. This is reflected by the recent interest in full-spectrum lighting, and in the choice of colors in hospitals, offices, and restaurants. More to my point, light colors are used for their biological effects, such as placing newborns under blue light to remedy a yellow jaundice condition.

These considerations led me to search for possible links between biorhythms and light. I found that the duration of each biorhythm cycle was such that they allowed the same amount of energy to be "received" from the different colors of light, corresponding to each of those biorhythms.

Let me tell you about some interesting things that I found as I was looking for such links.

The search for a relationship

In my earlier speculations I proposed that there are four biorhythms, each associated with a different primitive cell type, as follows:

For several reasons, I came to believe that different colored light may contribute differently to cellular energies relating to the Physical, Emotional, Mental cycles and Intuitional cycles. I still haven't decided which cell type to associate with the Intuitional cycle; perhaps a hormone cell of the endocrine system.

Selecting and examining the observables

To begin my search of a relationship between biorhythms and light colors, I divided the visible spectrum into equal Angstrom segments as follows; Red 7000 Yellow 6000, Green 5000, Blue 4000. I then associated each of these color wavelengths with the Physical, Emotional, Mental and Intuitional cycles, respectively. That represented the observables to be examined.

I began by looking for numerical relationships between the attributes of the colors (wavelengths) and their related biorhythms (periods). An interesting relationship appeared when I multiplied a color's wavelength by its related biorhythm's period. It turned out that the products were approximately the same for each pair, i.e., a color's wavelength multiplied by its related biorhythm's period was about the same for all pairs. The details are shown in the following table.

The similarity in the number of Angstrom-Days for each biorhythm-and-color pair encouraged me to go further. This was especially so since most of the other combinations of biorhythm and color attributes revealed no simple relationships.

Interpreting the findings

The question then became, "What significance can there be in the product of a color's wavelength and its corresponding biorhythm's period?" I considered the following line of reasoning.

If a person is exposed to a red light (7000 Angstroms) for a period of one day, we can say that they experienced an exposure of 7000 "Angstrom-Days." Since the energy in light is inversely related to it's wavelength, an Angstrom-Day indicates the amount of energy that the person receives when exposed to a particular color of light for one day. (This is loosely analogous to the concept of Roentgen exposure to X-rays).

Following this argument, a person who is exposed to red light for one cycle of the Physical Biorhythm (23 days) would experience an exposure of 1.61 x 10⁵ Angstrom-Days. Similarly, a person exposed to a yellow light for one cycle of the Emotional Biorhythm (28 days) would experience an exposure of 1.68 x 10⁵ Angstrom Days, or about the same exposure as with red light during one cycle of the Physical Biorhythm.

Possible meaning in the findings

Continuing this argument, we find that the different periods of the Physical, Emotional, Mental and Intuitional biorhythms are such that they provide the same number of Angstrom-Days (or energy) of their respective colors (red, yellow, green and blue). This means that biorhythms might assure that equal amounts of energy are provided to their respective cell types, if those cells are indeed responsive to those respective colors.

What next?

It would be foolish to proclaim a theory based on these simple relations between the products of color wavelengths and biorhythm periods. That result could be a quirk of arithmetic, since the biorhythm periods differ by equal 5-day intervals, and the wavelengths differ by equal intervals of 1000 Angstroms. That coincidence might cause certain combinations of products to be the same.

However, it does encourage one to look for other evidence of a possible relationship between biorhythms, cellular activity, and light colors. The next step would be to conduct biological experiments that might provide further evidence toward resolving the issues. It will require a competent biological staff, and suitable facilities, to design and conduct the necessary experiments.

An experiment: does the color of light affect cellular activities?

The objective of the experiments would be to observe the activities of cells while they are exposed to different color lights. The activities of interest should be related to energy-producing or energy-using functions (metabolism), rather than cell division activity (mitosis). The experiment should cover a period of at least one cycle of each biorhythm.

The procedure would ideally illuminate the primitive endoderm, mesoderm and ectoderm cells from a gastrula, with red, yellow and blue light, respectively. Or, the cells may be obtained from more mature tissues and organs that evolve from those primitive three cells (e.g., gut lining cells; muscle or blood cells; epidermis or nervous system cells; respectively).

Preferably the experiments should run concurrently on the different cell types, to assure that external environmental conditions are the same for all three cell types.

It may turn out that the experiments must be observed during in vivo cellular activity, since in vitro activity would not have the benefit of the normal hormonal signals that might provide or transport the critical zeitgebbers or energies to target cells

My efforts to learn whether such experiments have been performed yet came up empty, but they weren't very extensive. I would appreciate any leads that you may offer.

What mechanisms (processes) could transfer light to the cell systems?

On the assumption that future efforts may demonstrate that different colors of light do affect the different cells according to their embroyonic origins, the search must then continue to discover the processes by which the effects of different light frequencies can reach the cells to produce the observed effects.

That search should probably revisit earlier studies of the light-transforming role of the pineal gland. The pineal offers a probable link for converting different light frequencies into different hormonal products which can then target different cell types with instructions for becoming active or passive in their metabolic activities.

Another area to be explored would be transdermal mechanisms of light transmission that stimulate cell structures (perhaps in the blood) to perform light frequency conversions that result in the formation of information-laden molecules which then can act as messengers to the relevant cells.

Alternatively, it might be possible for transdermal light transmission to affect hormonal constituents already in the blood, according to the frequencies of the light. In both cases the high frequencies of light might be reduced to molecularly-detectable frequencies by simple frequency-division integration-mechanisms (as are the summations of light-dark periods that signal seasonal changes).

Perhaps it may be found that the different light frequencies act only as control signals based on counting, rather than as energy sources such as in photosynthesis.

More about the roles of color

In his book "The Four Color Person," (Simon and Shuster, 1977), Dr. Max Luscher postulates that there are four basic kinds of feelings and thoughts which correspond to the four colors red, yellow, green and blue. He provides methods for using these colors to help a person bring their behavioral tendencies into better balance.

Then too, I wonder what subliminal balancing is intended by Microsoft, by displaying its screen-opening Flying Window logo, with its bright RED, YELLOW, GREEN and BLUE panes?

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