Do you ever wonder why you keep waking up at the same time every night?

Waking up once or twice at 3 a.m. might pass as innocuous enough, but when it keeps happening, it might seem too exact to be random. Good news: it isn’t random, and can actually shed a lot of insight into what’s happening in your body, mind, and life.

There are 14 major meridians that run through the body, 12 of which align with the 24 hour clock. That means there are 2 hours each day in which one meridian – which is running through a certain part of your body – becomes the primary. Meridians are linked to parts of the body and bodily processes, as well as through thoughts, emotions, and experiences. Basically, the hour that you keep waking up can tell you which meridian is experiencing a disruption.

1 a.m.

Physical: You may be experiencing issues with circulation (specifically, your heart) or your gallbladder.

Mental: You’re struggling to process your place in life, or to feel safe. You’re worrying about how to “step forward,” and might be struggling with issues regarding your appearance or weight.

Spiritual: You are in need of energy. You’re giving more than you’re getting, and it’s depleting you. It might be an issue of not being open to receiving (issues of circulation often relate to resisting “flow”) but it also could be because you don’t know how to make yourself happy, so you’re relying on the idea of goals or other people’s approval to do it for you.

2 a.m.

Physical: You may be experiencing issues with digestion, relating to either your small intestine or your liver. You may be eating or drinking too much or too little.

Mental: If you are waking at this time, it is usually because of unresolved energy pockets that you picked up in early to mid-childhood. When you were young, your inability to process what they meant made you either avoidant or resistant to the circumstances in which they arose. To this day, it is impacting you.

Spiritual: You need to remove these old, limiting, inherited beliefs and ideas you have about yourself that you picked up before you were even conscious of what was happening. You need to re-learn how to literally digest, process and properly absorb the lessons that were offered.

3 a.m.

Physical: You may be having issues with your lungs. It may simply be an inability to breathe deeply and relax.

Mental: You are in need of guidance and direction. Though you are beginning to have an awakening in your life, a lot is still very new to you, and so you are literally waking up at the spiritual “witching hour” (not necessarily a bad thing) to absorb more of the information that you need.

Spiritual: Given that 3 a.m. is the time during which the veil between dimensions is lowest, it’s possible that energies are trying to communicate with you (passed loved ones, guides, etc.). It is also possible that because you are becoming more sensitive to subtle energies, your body is waking itself up when there’s more happening in the physical world. Stay awake and write down any messages you receive or ideas that crop up in your head at this time.

4 a.m.

Physical: You may be having issues with your bladder, or perspiration. This is the time at which your body temperature is lowest, so it is also possible that you are too hot or too cold.

Mental: You may be running too “hot or cold” in your personal life, feeling at once very fulfilled and then sidelined by self-doubt. Trust that this is part of the process, and will help you understand balance and duality.

Spiritual: You are in a period of ascending, rising and making great change in your life. As you usher in the new, you have to work on being willing to let go of the old.

5 a.m.

Physical: You may be having issues with your large intestine, or with nourishment and diet.

Mental: You may be unconvinced that you are deserving of other people’s love or your own wellness. You are likely too caught up in your self-critical frame of mind to really embrace all of the incredible things that you have built for yourself. You need to let your garden feed you, so to say.

Spiritual: You are reaching a peak point in your life, at which you will finally be self-sustaining, positive, and thriving. You have to work on allowing your inner joy to radiate out of you, letting food and relationships completely nourish you, and to be completely present in this spectacular moment in your life.

Waking up between 3 a.m. and 5 a.m. can be a sign of a spiritual awakening.

Though many people struggle with the aforementioned issues, not everyone experiences symptoms of awakening such as literally being woken from their sleep at odd hours.

Other symptoms include:

1. Going through a major life change.

2. Having intense emotional experiences, often out of “nowhere.”

3. Questioning reality and what you are really capable of in life.

4. Having intense realizations about the nature of existence and yourself.

5. Seeing old issues from childhood crop up again, similar situations repeat so you can respond differently this time.

6. “Left brain fogginess,” or mild disorientation.

7. Feeling the need to isolate yourself.

8. Consciously realizing that you need to “get your life together,” and that you want to make serious change.

9. Feeling uncomfortable and triggered by random situations that you can’t seem to “let go” of.

10. Realizing that you are the only person responsible for creating the life you want to live.

Of course, other things may be at play in your waking life as well, such as disruptive relationships, overconsumption of substances like alcohol, napping too much during the day, feeling anxious or depressed, or other symptoms.

What’s most important is that you trust whatever feels most intuitively correct to you. Just as you should take note of when you are waking up at odd hours, realize when you’ve stopped, too: it means some part of your life that was previously unresolved has been healed, or recovered.