Ultradian rhythms and work

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Science has been able to establish that our brain does not work linearly, but in cycles. Some of them are called ultradian rhythms and correspond to the periods of full attention and total dispersion. Taking these cycles and their pauses into account would make us more productive.

Biological rhythms are changes that occur in the body after a regular interval of time.. Ultradian rhythms are part of biological rhythms and are related to cycles of rest and mental activity, as well as eating and motor behaviors.

Ultradian rhythms, like all biological rhythms, establish cycles . That is to say, they involve a series of phases or stages that always take place in the same order and that, once completed, begin again to be repeated incessantly.

Biological rhythms have been classified based on the time it takes to complete each cycle. Most of us have heard of cicardial rhythms, which are also known as the “biological clock.” In essence, they mark the times of sleep and wakefulness.

Ultradian rhythms are less known and are related to work efficiency. Let’s see.

“Disintegration is something that happens to all things. When a horse, a person or an opponent collapses, they fall apart from the rhythm of time.”.

-Miyamoto Musashi-

The different biological rhythms

There are several ways to classify biological rhythms, but the most conventional is to categorize them based on the time it takes to complete each cycle.

From that point of view, There are three basic biological rhythms: cicardian rhythms, ultradian rhythms and infradian rhythms. Let’s see.

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Cicardian rhythms. They are those biological cycles that have a minimum duration of 20 hours and a maximum of 28 hours. They basically include all the processes associated with sleep and wakefulness. This includes temperature, hormone release, appetite, etc.Ultradian rhythms. They are biological rhythms that last less than 20 hours. They include processes that range from a millisecond to several hours. They include sleep stages, heart rate, respiratory rate and others.Infradian rhythms. They are those that last more than 28 hours. They are divided into circaseptal, monthly and circannual or annual. They include processes such as the menstrual cycle, reproduction, metabolism and others.

Ultradian rhythms and rest

One of the crucial aspects of ultradian rhythms is that they include the sleep cycle.. Dr. Nathaniel Kleitman was one of the pioneers in their study. From his research, today we know that during sleep there are basically two main phases. The first, called “non-REM”, or slow wave sleep. The second is the REM phase, or fast waves.

The complete sleep cycle (Non-REM and REM phase) lasts between 90 and 110 minutes. Typically, we complete around five cycles per night.. Now, Nathaniel Kleitman also discovered that while we are awake the brain carries out cycles similar to those that occur during sleep.

This means that, in a period of 90 minutes, the brain goes through several phases that involve different levels of “alertness.” In those 90 minutes, there are moments in which we are a little more asleep – that is, more dispersed – and others in which we are more alert. This, in other words, means that during the day we are more agile at some times and more clumsy at others.

Ultradian rhythms and productivity

What has been established so far is that due to ultradian rhythms we have peaks and valleys in our daily productivity.. This takes place in cycles of 90 to 120 minutes, depending on the person and the time.

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On the other hand, the characteristic signs of these productivity valleys are several. You feel more exhausted, you start working at a much slower pace, you become easily distracted and you make more mistakes. The best thing you can do at these times is to take a break: you will help your attention level recover sooner.

Added to this is the fact that there is not complete agreement on the interval of ultradian rhythms, although there is a common pattern. For example, a study from the University of Illinois (2011), published in the journal Science, indicated that productivity peaks are reached when you take a break every 50 minutes.

For his part, Professor Peretz Lavie, researcher at the Israel Institute of Technology and expert on the subject, has pointed out that the ideal work time, before a break, is 20 minutes.

Likewise, an Italian factory installed a “chronobiological” device and found that the most productive workers were those who worked for 52 minutes straight and then rested for 17.

Given such heterogeneous data, what we do know is that the averages are very good, but they represent few people or even none. This way, It would be good if each of us did an analysis of our productivity, to find the “most profitable” cut-off points.