The Oscillatory Coherence Model A Network Theory of Multisystem Resilience Through Temporal Coordination

Multisystem physiological resilience—the ability to maintain coordinated function across aging, stress, and environmental challenge—declines in strikingly convergent patterns across cardiac, metabolic, autonomic, respiratory, and behavioral domains. These changes often emerge while individual subsystem amplitudes remain preserved, suggesting a shared failure mode beyond isolated organ dysfunction. We propose that physiological stability depends on sustained temporal coordination among a small set of interacting oscillatory processes spanning seconds to days. When relative timing between rhythms degrades, regulatory feedback arrives out of phase, converting stabilizing interactions into destabilizing ones that propagate local perturbations into system-wide fragility. Clinically familiar patterns—such as delayed circadian phase with preserved heart-rate variability amplitude but fragmented cardiorespiratory coupling—illustrate how coordination can fail before overt loss of oscillatory power. Building on network physiology and chronobiology, we introduce the Oscillatory Coherence Model (OCM), which formalizes multisystem integration around six core physiological oscillators influenced by universal environmental and behavioral inputs. Global coherence is quantified using a time-averaged phase order parameter, , operationalizing resilience as the persistence of coordinated timing rather than subsystem vigor. Computational simulations demonstrate that coherence can decline through oscillatory flattening and feedback mistiming even when individual rhythms remain active, revealing early-warning signatures of systemic vulnerability. By reframing resilience as a network-level temporal property, the OCM provides a parsimonious framework for understanding why dysregulation clusters across physiological domains and why timing-sensitive coordination metrics may detect vulnerability before traditional amplitude-based measures.Keywords: Oscillatory coherence, Multisystem resilience, Network physiology, Phase coordination, Temporal organization, Coupled oscillators, Physiological rhythms, Aging and stress physiology, Early warning signals