Why You Wake Up at 3 a.m.

Sleep is an essential mechanism of our life.  We spend nearly one third of our adult life in bed, and babies and small children sleep half of each day. When we do not get enough rest we feel stressed out, lose our patience quickly and in the long term, we get physically sick. 

A deep and restful sleep supports overall health. When we are fortunate enough to enjoy deep sleep we are able to recharge our “life energy,” the life force Eastern Medicine describes in Qigong and in meditation practices. Unfortunately, not all of us can rely on a regular sleep pattern. Recent studies have shown that nearly a third of the adult population experiences forms of insomnia and a good percentage use sleep inducing medication on a regular basis. Television commercials for sleep medications are a part of a billion dollar industry. Next to prescribed sleeping pills and over the counter supplements there are entire technologies including pillows, mattresses, mechanical bed constructions which promise relief and a better night sleep. 

The reasons we are up at night are widespread and include many causes:

1. Eating too close to bedtime
2. Choosing fatty meals that are too heavy to digest
3. Abusing alcohol, caffeine and tobacco
4. Unhealthy lifestyle due to work, school, or family situations
5. Mental stress from worrying about money, health and relationships
6. Environmental stress from the home or the land

The Institute of Feng Shui & Geopathology researches and publishes about how energetic influences in the environment affect our wellbeing and health. We are particularly interested in investigating subtle forms of energy in the house, which can be altered to improve the sleeping experience. We believe a good night sleep is strongly impacted by where we sleep including the position of the bed in a room and most importantly, if the room is energetically calm and safe.

A big part of our work is based on European research in the field of Geopathology. “Geo” = the Earth, “pathology” = the study of illness. Geopathic stress (GS) is a term describing naturally occurring earth energies that drain us physically when we are exposed to them. This causes a subtle stress for our body. 

When we are bombarded with GS for long periods of times, for example for 8 hours night after night, it starts to weaken our body and its immune system.  Cells start to lose the ability to communicate properly with each other and their regeneration cycle starts to break down. The body’s defense system finally gets overwhelmed and collapses leaving the body vulnerable and weak. This is the beginning of physical symptomatology.

The early European research on geopathic patterns in the late 1920’s mainly focused on major illnesses such as cancer. The first symptoms documented from exposure to earth stress were a lack of energy and sleep disruption, which often can lead to a chronic condition such as CFS (Chronic Fatigue Symptom). 

Over time these symptoms develop into all forms of insomnia, from difficulty falling asleep to feeling exhausted in the morning. The most prominent symptom is waking up at around 3 a.m. 

In the beginning, it was not clear to researchers why 3 a.m. was such a specific biomarker.  After tracking, the intensity of geopathic patterns over a 24 hour cycle it became obvious that the highest levels of geopathic stress fields appear between 2:30 and 3:00 a.m. During the night the body charges up with geopathic stress and once it hits a threshold the person wakes up. The intensity curve of geopathic stress within nature looks like a large sine wave with the maximum in the early morning and the minimum in the early afternoon. This creates a challenge for dowsers who are not fully aware of this rhythm. When a sleeping place is tested during the day the challenge appears less problematic versus at night when geopathic stress spikes. 

If sleeping problems occur regularly, we highly recommend checking the following: 

1. Watch your pets. Cats are the only large animals which are naturally attracted to geopathic stress. Notice where they sleep. Dogs on the other hand avoid GS at all cost.
2. Ants and other insects love geopathic energies, as well. If the house has a history of carpenter ants, wasps or bees this would indicate a large geopathic zone within the house.
3. Observe nature around the house. Trees and bushes that grow poorly or deformed in shape are most likely planted above GS.
4. Hire a dowser who is knowledgeable about GS, especially underground water and major earth grid structures.

A typical situation showing GS affecting one side of the master bed.

The easy solution would be to move the bed 2 ft to the left out of the geopathic stress zone.

A secondary contributor to energetic stress are the electronics we keep in the bedroom. The scientific community still struggles with acceptance of energy fields and EMR (electromagnetic radiation). However, a line of explanation for sleep issues around strong geopathic or electromagnetic fields is the disturbance of the melatonin production in the pineal gland, a small pea sized gland in the center of our brain. Melatonin is a natural occurring hormone which is only produced at night and only in a dark environment. Keeping your bedroom cool and using thick curtains support a more restful environment.

Recommendations for EMR reduction in bedrooms:

1. Keep TVs, computers and other electronics out of the bedroom, especially children's rooms.
2. Unplug the TV or computer at night as turning them off does not disrupt the electromagnetic field. Sensitive people may even want to turn off the wireless router at night.
3. Notice what’s on the night stand. Move your phone more than an arm length away from the bed.

The draining influence of energetic fields is well acknowledged by holistic doctors. When we sleep our body relaxes from the daily activities and recharges. The sympathetic nervous system, our fight and flight response to stress and danger, gets to rest.  Feng Shui advises to seek a strong wall behind the bed to support a safe energetic resting position.  As the sympathetic system slows down, the parasympathetic system engages. This is our self healing mechanism.

The two physical processes that geopathic stress disrupts are: the melatonin production and the automatic healing mechanism.

Final tips for recognizing geopathic stress in the bedroom:

1. Watch your daily routine.  Did your sleep pattern change when you moved into this house? Do you sleep better when you visit family, friends or stay in a hotel?
2. Change your sleeping location in your house. Sleep in a guestroom or on the couch in the living room and observe your sleeping patterns. It takes a few days to release the charge on the body and to see a difference.
3. If you suspect a possible geopathic stress area in the bedroom, move the bed or position it on another wall. Observe your sleeping patterns for a few days.
4. Watch the video about “Bodydowsing” to learn how to use your body as a dowsing device and determine which areas of your house are safe and balanced.

Waking up around 3 a.m. is a common symptom of earth related stress in the bedroom. It should alert us that the body is not able to recharge properly. If not addressed by changing the bed position or implementing specific energetic shielding measures in the house, it will likely intensify over time leading to chronic low energy and a possible variety of health challenges. 

It is best to address the cause of sleep disruption as soon as possible and change the way you sleep as part of the solution.

Category:health

Tags:Werner Brandmaier, Geopathology, waking up at 3 am, causes of insomnia, EMFs and insomnia, insomnia solution,

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