What is the Body Clock? *

Chinese (actually: ancient Chinese) theory can explain everything that we can observe as a healthy or pathological behavior of a human body. The Chinese Body Clock (or "body clock" for short) is a good example of one of so many things we in the West struggle to explain and it makes perfect sense in the Chinese theory and practice...

Have you ever saw a pattern of regularly waking up at the same time, at 3, 5 or maybe 7 am? Many people do and when asked, have no explanation for this phenomenon. Regardless of when they went to sleep or how tired they are, many people wake up at a set time and feel wide awake, usually to the point of knowing there is no way they'll sleep again soon.

Similar thing happens to many humans in daytime hours. By 11, 1, 3 or 5 pm they get so sleepy, so tired that sometimes that they'd curl up and sleet where they are because their brain shuts down, their eyes can't stay open and their only choices are sleep or to reach for a large cup of tea or coffee.

As mentioned before: in Chinese medicine theory, energy in the body travels on a 24 hour cycle, every 2 hours moving to the next of the 12 main organs. This cycle is common to all humans, no one can escape it even if the organ (such as Gallbladder or Spleen) has been taken out (the flow of energy continues, always following organ's pathway).

If any of the organs in the body are "off" and have deficiency, we can see this by observing this "unnatural" behavior: at night, the person will wake up / during the daylight, they will get tired and want to sleep. They will display extremes in this: if they are sleepy during the day, they are really sleepy, yawning constantly and barely keeping their eyes open. At night, they won't just wake up, they will instantly be wide awake, typically not able to sleep for the next hour, usually two.

This behavior matches the predetermined flow of the Life force in the body. It always travels in this order from one organ to the next. If the organ is defficient, we will display the following:

11 am: Heart - we'll get very sleepy
1 pm : Small Intestine - we'll get very sleepy
3 pm : Bladder - we'll get very sleepy
5 pm : Kidney - we'll get very sleepy
7 pm : Pericarium - we'll get very sleepy
9 pm : Tripple Heater - we'll be wide awake
11pm: Gallbladder - we'll be wide awake
3 am : Liver - we'll be wide awake
3 am : Lung - we'll be wide awake
5 am : Large Intestine - we'll be wide awake
7 am : Stomach - we'll be wide awake
9 am : Spleen - we'll get very sleepy

It is important to remember that the pahological behavior is regular in occurance, very close to the exact time of the day and lasts an hour, often more. If you observe a pattern like this, it is smart to look at the organ connected to this time of day and start doing things that will benefit the organ itself.

Acupucture is a shortcut to "boosting" organ's health but it is far from the only tool you have. You can adapt your life style, change your diet to include foods known to improve that organ's health, add more or take away excessive exercise, address the elevated stress that may be the cause of this deficiency (it often is).