Have you ever wondered why you always seem to be waking up during the night at particular times?
And it’s not just an odd night here and there. After a while you begin to realise you’re waking up again and again, the nights of sleeping through a distant memory. You start to look at the clock and find it’s always at the same time – 2:55am or between certain hours like 4am to 5am. You’re not drinking coffee late in the afternoon, you’ve cut down on your much loved sugars and you’re fairly active during the day (incidentally if you are drinking coffee all afternoon and you’re dipping into refined sugars, consider stopping and then see how you sleep!). Sure, life’s a bit stressful but how is it that it’s always 2:55am?!
Those who use Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) would tell you “that’s easy – look at the Chinese Medicine ‘Meridian Clock’”. It’s one of my favourite tools to use in Kinesiology. The great thing about the Meridian Clock is you don’t have to be a Kinesiologist or a practitioner of TCM to understand it or gain insight from it. Here’s a basic explanation to get you started.
What’s your time?
Firstly, have a look at the clock above and find the time you’re waking up. Take note of the name that sits directly beneath it. For example, if you’re waking between 1am and 3am then you would look at the information about the Liver meridian. Don’t worry – it doesn’t necessarily mean there’s something wrong with your liver, it’s just the way they’re named in English.
14 major meridians – our electrical system
There are 14 major meridians or flows of an energy substance (you may have heard of Qi/Ch’i which sustains life) with 12 of them sitting within the 24 hour clock. All are constantly flowing with energy from your environment and penetrating your body through your skin, central nervous system and organs. These portals on the skin are what acupuncture and acupressure use. Each has a two hour period where they are the primary meridian. Each meridian is linked to particular parts of the body, mechanisms of the body, other meridians, thoughts and emotions, colour, sound, seasons and other spiritual aspects. They’re also partnered together as Yin (receiving energy) and Yang (expressing energy) of an element – Earth, Metal, Water, Wood, and Fire.
Think of it like electrical circuits – when the energy of a meridian is not flowing well due to a block (like stress), you’ll find that you’ll experience a sign or symptom from the meridian(s) involved. This block will also cause an imbalance in the flows between meridians. So when waking up in the night at the same time, or becoming exhausted with 3:30-itis in the afternoon, you can look at the meridian at work and what may be happening with you. Here’s a list of the basic emotions of each element (the ring below the meridians).
- Earth – Empathy, sympathy, balanced giving and receiving
- Metal – Grief and loss
- Water – Fear and anxiety
- Wood – Anger, frustration and resentment
- Fire – Love, hate and joy
What now?
Self reflection people! It can be quite simple; you just need to stop and listen. Your body is trying to tell you something by waking you up at the same time. Back to our previous example, if your time is the Liver meridian and the Wood element – ask yourself “What am I angry or frustrated at?” Or think of the Liver organ and apply this to your life “What is toxic in my life that I need to get rid of?” Perhaps you have symptoms that your digestive system is not working so well?
I’ll leave you with this as food for thought. Spend some time to reflect on your life and what’s keeping you awake based on the ancient wisdom of Traditional Chinese Medicine. I will cover this in more detail in the next post Why You Wake Up At The Same Time Every Night (Part II). If you’re having trouble falling asleep at night, have a read through the Sanctuary of Sleep Series Part One Sleep & Stress: Why You Can’t Fall Asleep
If you’d like to read more about Traditional Chinese Medicine start with ‘The Web That Has No Weaver: Understanding Chinese Medicine’ by Ted Kaptchuk.
This post is the first instalment of a series I’ll be writing on Traditional Chinese Medicine and how you can use it to help you in daily life. Easy!
Why You Wake Up by Kate Pamphilon is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
Liam says
I wake up between 3-5am every single night for the last few years and lie there form hours until morning, I can’t really remember when I was any different now. The only time this doesn’t happen is if I am on holiday from work etc and can go to bed whenever I want. I can sleep for hours uninterrupted then which really annoys me actually. I hate dragging myself out of bed into the daily grind when I’m always so damn tired. According to this I having grieving lungs… This makes no sense. Im not grieving in real life, nobody died recently etc.
I smoke a bit, so are my lungs grieving because of that and waking me up? Anyway thinking about if with a logical mind it just sounds like nonsense (no offense anyone that’s just my opinion). I have mild bouts of insomnia where I cannot sleep all night which I get once and awhile. If usually lasts 1-3 nights and on the third night I just collapse in that exhausted. I’ve been to the doctors etc been prescribed sleeping pills, work great but you never get enough of them. Obviously I get why as I don’t want to use a pill for the rest of my life to do a normal biological function – SLEEP! Anyway the doctors say hypnotherapy and positive thinking are what to try. Well thing is I didn’t bother with the hypnotherapy it’s expensive and I don’t really believe in it to the point where I wouldn’t consider it a waste of money. But positive thinking I get and I do that, in fact I’ve been in a really positive mindset for months now. Still, I wake up every single night and it’s so frustrating!
I realise I’ve ranted on a bit (just “woken up” after lying awake since 4am and have work so I’m a little grumpy!) but I’m just so sick of this and hoping if I ramble on enough perhaps someone can recognise what I’m going through and has any tips? Also I’d love to understand this table properly as grieving lungs just sounds whack to me! I’m also not planning on giving in to their grief and stop smoking anytime soon I rather enjoy that!
Liam says
Apologies for the grammar. I typed all that on an iPhone and it has the annoying autocorrect feature (which usually means swapping a word that makes sense with nonsense!)
Sabrina says
I wake up at 5 every morning, but I don’t have any grief or loss. If the meridian was opposite and it was in the water meridian for fear and anxiety, that would make perfect sense for me. I have a severe panic disorder and have a strong fear of my heart because I have pvcs amd terrified of having crippling panic attacks while I drive to and from work (happened so many times) I’ve never lost anyone and don’t feel any grief.. -_-
Katelyn says
Hai Kate
Ive been waking up at 6:30 for a few days now. Its summer and I never wake this early. When I wake up and look at the time I feel like something bad is going to happen.. is there possibly a spiritual reason. I’m not understanding the clock at all. Thanks
kelly says
My daughter wakes up at 12-12:10am every night..why is this?
random says
hi i wake up at 3 or before 4 everyday and i was always scared about ghosts and all that is this coz of that??.. or my meridian shows lungs and i smoke or is this the reason??..
Paulina says
I have been waking up at 4 am for the past week and the clock told me it’s grief and loss but I didn’t feel anything like that for a good while. I was depressed because of my so called family always putting me down but that’s different….isn’t it? I cannot find the source of my grief therefore I don’t know how to help my problem. Please Help and I’m 16 btw
Cami says
Hang in there folks, this stuff works. Your body is telling you something. For almost a year I was waking up between 1 and 3am and then falling back asleep at 5am, making me drained all day. I stArted a protocol with a naturopath to address my digestion. He also gave me some specific liver support. Since I have been taking it, I sleep through the night. If I don’t take it, I wake up. I am also working on fear anxiety/issues. Grief/fear/anger shows up in weird ways. Working in that emotional work is also hey.
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Mayra says
I usually wake up at 4:37 sometimes 4:38. i found it strange but never googled why the cause might be. my brother passed away 4 years ago in a car accident around that time so i thought maybe it he was trying to “say” somethign to me… but now that i see that its grief and loss i totally understand. this really helped me understand why 🙂