If You Can’t Sleep, It Can Be More Than Just Insomnia, Researchers Warn!

What keeps us awake at night has many causes. Sleep is essential for our physical and mental health. We need it urgently for rest, but also to be able to carry out important repair processes in the body. Between seven and eight hours a night would be essential for our metabolism to recover and for regenerative processes to do their work in peace.

People who have had to work shifts all their lives are significantly more likely to develop cardiovascular disease, cancer or other serious chronic conditions than those who have been able to establish a regular sleep routine. Sleep can neither be made up nor stockpiled, and as with any remedy, too much of it can do more harm than good. But even with the best of intentions, there are sometimes nights when Morpheus' arms just won't embrace us.

The reasons for this are not always physical. Sometimes it's our mental carousel that keeps us awake. A good explanation for nocturnal disturbance of the peace is provided by the organ clock of TCM. Traditional Chinese Medicine can offer a plausible explanation for every time of day at which we involuntarily wake up at night. The reason: Within 24 hours our life force, the Qi, flows through the complete meridian system of our body.

For two hours at a time, the Qi devotes itself to one main meridian. During this process, the energy supply in this meridian is significantly more intense than in the others. This energy flow can then manifest itself, among other things, in such a way that we suddenly wake up at night. We would like to briefly introduce you to some of these remarkable findings surrounding these sleep-inducing processes in our body in this article.

1. 11:00 p.m. to 1:00 a.m.: Gallbladder time.

This time period often not only makes us wake up, but uncomfortably even prevents us from falling back asleep. If that's the case, there are a few simple tricks that will propel you into sleep in the future. At least an hour before bedtime, use no devices equipped with a blue light display.

Smartphone, tablet, laptop and the like suggest to your brain that there is still plenty of daylight and that it is absolutely not yet time for bed. It also pays to dim the lights earlier in the evening. You're gently tuning your body into the fact that it will soon be time for a good night's sleep. If your head doesn't want to rest, you should start preparing during the day.

Exercise in the sunlight and fresh air promotes the production of the sleep hormone melatonin and lowers your stress level. On top of that, ten to twenty minutes of meditation a day is a hot tip that will certainly make it easier to fall asleep. But if you find yourself waking up between 11:00 p.m. and 1:00 a.m. and tossing and turning sleeplessly in bed, the causes are probably related to the organ that, according to TCM, is supplied with energy at this time: Your gallbladder.

In the future you can make it merciful by abstaining from alcohol, nicotine and too much food in the evening. Basically, this is the time of detoxification for our body. As always in TCM, this organ does not only have a purely physical task to master. Mentally and emotionally, the wake-up call through the gallbladder stands for upcoming decisions, anger and disappointments.

The general of our detoxification center, as the gallbladder is also called, does not appreciate it when we let emotional ballast pile up until the proverbial bile comes up.

2. 1:00 a.m. to 3:00 a.m.: liver time.

If you wake up regularly at night during this time period, another organ has now taken over the energy boost from the bile meridian: the liver. It, too, detoxifies our body and is also the multitasking organ par excellence of our metabolism. According to the teachings of TCM, it ensures the smooth flow of things. For our body, this means that Qi and our lifeblood, blood itself, can flow unhindered.

Mentally and emotionally, this means we are in flow and at peace with ourselves. Stress and a life at the limit, on the other hand, are proverbial poison for our liver, which then has a hard time with its valuable work. On the one hand, we can support it by abstaining from nicotine, alcohol and lavish meals. However, sugar in large quantities and typical fast food dishes can also harm the liver.

Those who do not want to constantly sacrifice their night's sleep for the liver should consider detox days. The well-known liver fasting is not for nothing big news in the media recently. 

3. 3:00 to 5:00: The time of the lungs.

We don't even notice how many times a day our lungs supply us with vital oxygen. In fact, we take in air about 20,000 times a day. According to the teachings of TCM, our lungs also distribute cosmic Qi, as the air we breathe is called, throughout our body. The more often we can breathe properly in the fresh air, the better we strengthen all our bodily functions, but especially our immune system.

If the lungs, of all things, deprive you of sleep at night, there can be several reasons for this. Negative feelings, for example, build up and we can't let go of them. The much-quoted stone that sometimes lies on our chest prevents us from breathing, keeps the lungs from doing their job and subsequently keeps us awake at night. TCM also sees the lungs as being related to feelings of grief and loss.

Both of these conditions create an oppressive feeling in our chest and literally rob us of our life force. It is definitely worth getting to the bottom of these exceptional emotional states. Our body can regulate many things on its own, but it does need a little support now and then. Besides pain, one of its best-known cries for help is insomnia. Even the toughest among us find it extremely difficult to ignore it for any length of time.

Today’s Conclusion:

Staying insomniac is not an option. Whatever it is that robs you of your well-deserved sleep, be  romance, sex or an exciting book, you should get to the root of the problem. Our night's rest is essential for our physical and mental health. Once the demon of insomnia has moved in, it is difficult to get rid of it without medical help.

However, this way you solve the problem only to a limited extent. You are more likely to raise it to a new level, for example, by using sleeping pills. Even natural ones should not become your daily or nightly companions. Our sleep-wake rhythm is actually naturally fine the way it is. An involuntary night watch now and then certainly does no harm to anyone.

However, these episodes should not become a routine. If you can exclude physical causes, devote yourself to your feelings in detail and completely honestly. Except for love, none of them should be allowed to rob you of sleep.