Chinese Medicine practitioners use The Organ Body Clock to help them determine the organ responsible for diseases. For example, if you find yourself waking up between the hours of 3-5am each morning, you may have underlying grief or sadness that is bothering you or you may have a condition in the lung area.
If you wake up at 3 a.m. or another time and can't fall right back asleep, it may be for several reasons. These include lighter sleep cycles, stress, or underlying health conditions. Your 3 a.m. awakenings may occur infrequently and be nothing serious, but regular nights like this could be a sign of insomnia.
Many of my patients ask me this question. The Chinese Medicine clock offers answers. Every 2 hours the energy runs through a different meridian. If the energy is unbalanced in a certain meridian, we may have trouble sleeping during the corresponding time.
The hours between 1am and 3am are governed by the liver meridian. Emotionally it is associated with anger and physically associated with your shoulder. The hours between 3am and 5am are governed by the lung meridian.
3-5 AM The Lungs
Waking up during this time may indicate that you have an imbalance in your Lung energy. Grief and sadness are the emotions linked to the Lungs. Consider whether you're feeling any emotional tension or stress, as it may be blocking your ability to take deep breaths.
Organ and peak functionality
3–5 a.m. Lung: This period is when the lungs are at their peak energy. It's is believed to be an ideal time to exercise, as opposed to later in the day.
Let's take a look at the liver. According to the Organ Clock it is the most busy during 1-3am at night.
Core body temperature starts to rise, sleep drive is reducing (because we've had a chunk of sleep), secretion of melatonin (the sleep hormone) has peaked, and levels of cortisol (a stress hormone) are increasing as the body prepares to launch us into the day.
Primary Meridian: Liver
If you're waking up in the middle of the night after a cocktail or two, it's because your liver is working in overdrive to relieve your body of excess toxins. The liver cleanses our blood and when this process gets interrupted, it can result in low energy and feelings of angst the following day.
If the Liver-Qi stagnates, the symptoms are hypochondriac distension and pain, pain in the lower abdomen and the lateral sides of the abdomen, irritability, depression, distension and pain in the breasts, and irregular menstruation.
Although the bedtime is slightly earlier, most people in China get a great sleep every night. In China, the average bedtime is 12:32 am. Most people in China average about 6:43 hours in bed every night.
The liver begins to cleanse toxins. 1-3 a.m. — Liver — Cleansing of blood and processing of wastes. This is a common time to wake up. At 2am, our blood sugar drops to its lowest point.
According to Chinese medicine, the window from 11 PM - 3 AM, which correlates to the Liver and Gallbladder, is most important in terms of maintaining health, especially as we age.
As per researchers, if you sleep early in the evening, then waking up at 3 am is good and it is also the perfect time to meditate.
Keep it cool, quiet and dark to stop unnecessary disruptions. Make sure you're sleeping on a comfortable bed too. Keep active. It's well known that people who exercise regularly tend to sleep better.
It is an online challenge where participants attempt to perform a specific task at 3 in the morning. Online Game Briefing Note 2: 3am Challenge. What do we need to know about this? The challenge was created by Jason Ethier, where he uploaded creepy 3am videos seeking paranormal activity.
For those of us who are waking up at odd times in the morning, more often than not, it's at the same time every day - sometime around 4am or 5am. This could be because of the simultaneous rise in cortisol levels and the brain's processing of emotional material early in the morning.
According to sleep specialists, most people actually wake up about 6 times per night, and one of those is usually around 2 or 3 am, depending on when they hit the hay. They also say that waking up at that time is just a sign that we have shifted from deep sleep to a lighter sleep where our brains are more active.
Sleep detox is when your body naturally removes waste, toxins, and hormones from brain cells and organs during sleep. This process can leave you feeling rejuvenated in the morning. According to Chinese Medicine practices, the endocrine system detoxes between 9-11 p.m., making an early bedtime a great choice.
Between the times of 10:00 pm and 2:00 am the body goes through a dramatic process of physical repair. Between roughly 2:00 am and 6:00 am the body will go through a process of psychological repair. A disrupted sleep pattern will cause the Cortisol to elevate and negatively affect the regenerative process.
A common occurrence I often see in clinic in autumn is the 4am wake up. This tends to occur due to the fact that not only do your lungs correspond with autumn in Chinese medicine but they also correspond with the time period of 3am to 5am.
Reasons this might happen include drinking caffeine or alcohol late in the day, a poor sleep environment, a sleep disorder, or another health condition. When you can't get back to sleep quickly, you won't get enough quality sleep to keep you refreshed and healthy.
Your sleep patterns
One likely explanation for waking up at the same time each night is that you go to sleep at the same time and then, at the same time each night, you reach a light stage of sleep and wake up. We're also more likely to remember waking up if it's closer to the time we normally get up for the day.