What are heart rate rhythms?
You may already be familiar with the terms night owl and early bird or morning lark to describe different circadian rhythms. Our research has shown that, like our regular body clock, which is generally a 24-hour (circadian) rhythm, there are also longer, multiday rhythms that may affect various biological functions, like resting heart rate, body temperature and more. The Rhythms in Physiology lab's research suggests that everybody has a different heart rate rhythm. There are common rhythms in the general population, which we refer to as multiday chronotypes.
In a small cohort study,
- Over 80% of adults had a multiday resting heart rate cycle.
- Around 50% of adults had a weekly cycle.
- Around 30% of adults had a monthly cycle.
Long-term data needs to be collected from more people to continue learning how these cycles affect the general population. This is enabled and facilitated by rhythmo.me. Learning more about multiday cycles may lead to a better understanding of human physiology and eventually improve the way we treat episodic and chronic conditions (such as epilepsy, migraines, cardiovascular disease) by using physiological cycles to manage disease symptoms.
You can read about the observational cohort study that became the basis for rhythmo.me at:
"Multiday cycles of heart rate are associated with seizure likelihood"
Karoly, Stirling, et al., eBioMedicine (2021), 72:103619
If your strongest heart rhythm is...
5-9 days (approx. one week) long,
your heart rate rhythm is the
worker honeybee.
10-18 days (approx. two weeks) long,
your heart rate chronotype is
the butterfly.
22-38 days (approx. one month) long,
your heart rate chronotype is
the clownfish.
64-104 days (approx. three months) long,
your heart rate rhythm is
the elephant.
more than 180 days (approx. six months) long,
your heart rate
chronotype is the turtle.
not fitting into any of the above,
your heart rate chronotype is
the chameleon.
To find your multiday chronotype, you will need to upload your smartwatch data.
Click below to learn how to do this.
Learn more about the animal cycles that inspired the heart rate chronotypes below.
- Worker honeybee:
7-day cycle influence on fatty acid production
- "Worker honeybee hemolymph lipid composition and synodic lunar cycle periodicities" - Mikulecky & Bounias, Brazilian Journal of Medical and Biological Research (1997) 30: 275-279
- Butterfly:
2-week life
cycle
- "Monarch butterflies have a lifecycle close to two weeks for its major developmental stages (caterpillar, chrysalis and adult)." - Grant et al., Bioscience (2022) 72(12): 1176-1203
- Clownfish:
29.5-day reproductive cycle, aligning with
tidal activity
- "Lunar cycles of reproduction in the clown anemonefish Amphiprion percula" - Seymour, Barbasch & Buston, Marine Ecology Progress Series (2018) 594: 193-201
- Elephant:
13-18-week
reproductive cycle
- "Reproductive cycle of the elephant" - Hildebrandt, Lueders, Hermes, Goeritz & Saragusty, Animal Reproduction Science (2011) 124 (Issues 3-4): 176-183
- Turtle:
annual
and multiannual reproductive cycles
- "Chapter 10 - Hormones and Reproductive Cycles in Turtles" - Blanvillain, Owens & Kuchling, Hormones and Reproduction of Vertebrates (2011): 277-303