RT writes: “I have heard that there’s some kind of spiritual significance to when you wake up in the middle of the night. For example, if you wake up at 1:00 a.m. it means you’re on the brink of a spiritual awakening – or at 3:00 a.m. it means your energy levels are too low. Is any of this true?”

No. The idea that waking up at odd hours of the night has some kind of meaning comes from Traditional Chinese Medicine and its belief in a Body Clock. Also referred to as an “Organ Clock,” this theory alleges that there is a universal life force energy known as qi which moves through the body in 14 channels or meridians. This energy supposedly moves through us in a 24-hour cycle and that every two hours the qi is stronger within a particular organ or function in the body. Because proponents of Chinese medicine believe the mind, body, and spirit are inseparable, fluctuations in qi that wake us up at certain hours of the night are thought to have an impact on our mind, body and spirit.

The following are a few examples of these erroneous beliefs:

1. If you wake up at 1:00 a.m., the physical message your meridians are communicating is that you are having trouble with your circulation or gallbladder. Mentally, this could mean you’re struggling with the way you look or with your weight. Spiritually, you’re giving more than you’re getting.
2. Waking at 3:00 a.m. could mean you’re having trouble with your lungs. Mentally, you need guidance. Spiritually, because 3:00 a.m. is the time when “the veil between dimensions is lowest” your deceased loved ones or spirit guides could be trying to contact you.

However, the meanings behind these waking times varies according to the source. For example, this article says that waking up between 11:00 p.m. and 1:00 a.m. means you are indecisive and make bad decisions. Because it’s associated with the gall bladder, it also indicates high cholesterol and weak tendons.

The hours between 1:00 and 3:00 a.m., which are associated with the liver, signifies problems with anger and having “an excess of yang energy in your body.” This person can suffer from high blood pressure, PMS, migraines and eye floaters.

Waking between 3:00 and 5:00 a.m. is associated with feelings of sorrow or grief. Because it’s associated with the lungs, it means the person can be suffering from fatigue, frequent colds and flu, allergies, asthma, and chest pain. However, other interpretations say waking up during these hours is a sign that your experiencing a spiritual awakening.

There are several problem with these claims. First, they are part of a pantheistic belief system that is not compatible with Christianity.

Second, there is no such thing as meridians or the “qi” that supposedly travels through them. This is considered to be a putative form of energy for which there is no scientific support. The only energy we know of that exists in the body is known as veritable energy and consists of things like electromagnetic forces, magnetism, monochromatic radiation and rays from other parts of the electromagnetic spectrum, all of which are supported by science.

In other words, if you’re waking up at certain times during the night, you may have heard a noise or, if you’re like me, you might just have to go to the bathroom!  Reading anything more into is superstition.

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