Spiritual Awakening And The Segmented Sleep Cycle

One of the most commonly experienced symptoms of spiritual awakening is frequently waking in the early hours from 3am to 5am. It’s important to rule out any medical reasons this could be happening. However, if you are in good health and you have been regularly waking up this early, then you may be experiencing this due to spiritual awakening.

You may have found by now in an online search that you are waking up at 3am because it is ‘the witching hour’. You may also have read that 3am is an auspicious time to wake, or the opposite, that it is a ‘time of dark magic.’ Or that during your spiritual awakening you may be ‘spiritually attacked’ and this is why you are waking in the wee hours. While some of this may be true for some people, I am going to have to say that it probably has nothing to do with your waking up at or around 3am.

Yes, it is a sign of awakening! And a very, very common one too.  But the reason you are waking at 3am is not metaphysical; it is biological. It is biology which is influenced by your spiritual progression. But essentially it is a return to your natural state of being – your natural sleep cycle. This is called the circadian rhythm.

Most people just accept that we sleep naturally for about eight hours a night. But there is a great deal of evidence that this is not actually the natural sleep cycle for human beings. In fact, evidence suggests that prior to the industrial revolution, our sleep cycle was very different.

To demonstrate this point, we must return to the concept of awakening and what awakening really is. We call it spiritual ‘awakening’ for a reason – we are waking up. Waking up means being conscious in an otherwise largely unconscious world. During the process of awakening people often find themselves becoming very sensitive to things that never really bothered them before. This is because they are suddenly present and hyper-aware when things are out of alignment with the natural order.

Don Quixote followed nature, and being satisfied with his first sleep, did not solicit more. As for Sancho, he never wanted a second, for the first lasted him from night to morning ~ Miguel Cervantes

Awakening help us return to our natural state of being – physically, mentally, energetically and emotionally. It’s a return to a natural state of harmony with nature, the Earth and ourselves. Spiritually awakened people suddenly becoming sensitive, for example, to certain chemicals, or foods, or fabrics, during their awakening. This is also very common. Suddenly you start breaking out in hives and realize you need to switch to an all-natural beauty products. Or maybe you’ve become ultra-sensitive to violence in television and film.

Awakening is about being present and alive and resonating with innate frequencies. Auto-pilot doesn’t cut it anymore. Now we see reality for what it is, and we are in a continuous process of relearning what is truly going on in the world. It’s about seeing reality. With this comes a realignment of your energetic field, and suddenly things that didn’t bother you before are now intolerable. This is because our natural state of being is no longer being suppressed or ‘numbed out.’

With this energetic shift may come sensitivity to chemical products, processed foods, violence – basically all things that are out of alignment with our highest and best good. As we return to this more natural state, for many, our circadian rhythm or our sleep cycle is also affected.

Prior to the industrial revolution we had a very different circadian rhythm. In Homer’s ‘Odyssey’ he refers to the ‘first and second sleep’ of the night, as though this is a universally understood concept. There is also evidence in many other sources that show we used to sleep twice a night.

People would go to bed for a few hours after dusk, and then wake for an hour or two, before going back to sleep for a few more hours. There is even documentation of a pre-industrial revolution doctor stating that this wakeful hour between the first and second sleep is the most auspicious time to conceive a child!

This first and second sleep cycle is called bi-phasic sleep and there is evidence to suggest that this is the natural rhythm for human beings.

He knew this, even in the horror with which he started from his first sleep, and threw up the window to dispel it by the presence of some object, beyond the room, which had not been, as it were, the witness of his dream ~ Charles Dickens

During the industrial revolution, the modern ‘eight hour’ sleep cycle was all but enforced as a means to be ‘more productive’. But research has shown with no artificial light, subjects return to a segmented sleep cycle. This is our natural circadian rhythm. Humans are meant to sleep twice a night. And the reason you are waking up at 3am is because your body wants to return to this natural cycle.

Now that you know why this may be happening to you, how can you make the most of this time? First, use only low and as little artificial light as possible. Use this time to meditate, read, make love, sit in quiet contemplation, practice breathing exercises, read Tarot or angel cards, or scry, or try some gentle low intensity yoga and stretching. This is an ideal time to do things of a spiritual nature. Be gentle in your activities, and when you feel yourself tiring, allow yourself to go back to sleep.

Consider that awakening is a process of aligning with our truest authenticity. It makes denying who we are and why we came here painfully impossible. We must own who we are and step into our magic. It helps us in our realignment by bringing us back to our natural resonance, our natural vibration. This sometimes makes aspects of our lives incompatible with modern conventions, ‘comforts,’ and conveniences.

Spirit communicates with us in many, many profound and powerful ways. It doesn’t have to wake us up at 3am to deliver a message to us. However, during this time between our sleep intervals, we are indeed in a different mind space. We are more receptive and open to universal energies, so I encourage you to use this time for spiritual mindfulness pursuits. You are likely to find that you do receive potent messages from Spirit during this wakeful time! This is a bonus byproduct of your re-alignment with your natural sleep cycle.