According to Traditional Chinese Medicine, if you wake up at the same time every night you might be experiencing a certain imbalance in one of your organs.
This theory promotes the belief that our physical health and well-being are related to our internal rhythms. And systems which help us manage our bodily functions.
Sleep deprivation
We are all aware that having a good night’s sleep is essential in order for our body to function properly. But at times we take sleeping for granted. To put it simply, any type of sleep deprivation can affect your mood, judgement, ability to retain information and learn new things and it might increase the risk of getting into accidents, or injuring yourself critically.
These are some of the most common side effects of sleep deprivation:
- Weight gain
- Increased appetite
- Increased blood pressure
- High cortisol levels
- Increased inflammation
- Increased blood sugar
Eventually, sleep deprivation can lead to problems such as diabetes, heart disease, obesity and even death.
Wake Up Times and Their Meaning
According to Western medicine “circadian rhythms” are the processes and changes which happen in our bodies as a response to the outside environment. Not all details and reasons are clear, but medicine has started to explore the connection between disruptions in the rhythms and illness development.
Traditional Western Medicine believes that wake up times are related to different organs and physical and emotional blockages we might be experiencing.
- Waking up between 10 pm-11 pm
If you have trouble falling asleep you might be suffering from uncontrolled stress. You need to find the real cause of the stress in the first instance in order to treat it successfully. Moreover, the inability to fall asleep at this time might come as a result of some endocrine imbalances related to the thyroid. Or an issue related to your metabolism.
- Waking up between 11 pm-1 am
The gallbladder has the function of storing and excreting bile. However, according to Traditioanl Western Medicine, emotionally the gallbladder is responsible to self-esteem and decision-making. If you are not able to fall asleep by this time then you might be overusing the stored energy of your gallbladder. Which after time can lead to digestive difficulties, low self-esteem and poor judgement.
- Waking up between 1 am -3 am
If you are feeling frustrated, angry or irritated more than usual then you might be experiencing issues with your liver. Most probably, your liver needs to rebalance. Since the liver is emotionally connected to anger, then you might be having feelings of anger or resentment. If you have an imbalanced liver, you might suffer from irregular menstruation, chronic fatigue and headache. You can help your liver with medicinal herbs and by making some simple lifestyle changes.
- Waking up between 3 am – 5 am
The lungs are responsible for providing immune protection and for moving through the qi energy through the meridians and the entire body. Emotionally, the lungs are associated with grief. So if you are waking up between this period of time you might be experiencing grief or sorrow. The imbalances can show up as wheezing, asthma, coughing, or low immunity which makes you prone to getting sick easily.
- Waking up between 5 am-7 am
This is the ideal time to get your bowls moving. So if you are waking up at this time you might be feeling tense and you might be feeling the need to let you of something emotional. The symptoms you might experience relate to constipation or dry stool, skin rashes and feeling emotionally stuck.
- How to get a good night’s sleep?
In order to get a good sleep, you need to make sleeping your priority and set a consistent bedtime. This is only the first step. Additionally, you need to exercise regularly, to avoid caffeine after 2 pm and to turn off all devices before going to bed.
Before going to bed, try to drink a cup of tea made of different herbs such as valerian root, passion flower, and skullcap.
If changing your lifestyle with the above mentioned advices doesn’t have any effects on you, then my next suggestion would be to speak to a naturopathic doctor or Chinese medicine specialist who will help you find the causes of your sleep problems and create an individual treatment plan for you.
