There are a lot of symptoms that revolve around sleep that might be indicators for chemical dysfunction in the body. When investigating sleep issues, I always ask about a few things. This includes how long it takes to fall asleep, sleep quality, or waking during the night. These can lead me to think of different causes for sleep issues. If you wake up more than once throughout the night, then there might be blood sugar issues. This leads to stress hormone release, causing you to wake up. If you have a hard time falling asleep to begin with, you probably have an issue with the neurotransmitter, GABA. In this article, we are going to discuss how different organs might present with issues at certain times throughout the day. If you are waking up at the same time every night, your liver might be to blame.
The Horary Clock
The Horary Clock is a phenomenon discussed and utilized by acupuncturists. This clock divides the day into 12, 2-hour sections that each correlate to an organ. For some reason, certain organs will cause issues or symptoms during their respective 2-hour time slot. Here is an article in Acupuncture Today that talks about this phenomenon in regards to jet lag. It also includes an image of the clock with the times for each organ. In this article, we’re placing our focus between the hours of 1 am and 3 am. This time of the day correlates with the liver.
Phases of Detoxification
The liver is our body’s filtration system. The overwhelming majority of substances that enter the body must at some point make their way through the The liver processes. The overwhelming majority of substances that enter the body must at some point make their way through the. The liver has two phases of detoxification. A series of enzymes called the Cytochrome P450 enzymes accomplish phase 1. These enzymes act to prepare the contents entering the liver for sorting by a variety of other filtration pathways that are the Phase 2 liver detoxification pathway.
For these additional filtration pathways, there are things such as methylation, glucuronidation, and conjugation by glutathione that are occurring. These processes sound foreign, but they occur all day, every day in your body from the day you’re born until the day you die. These three processes are a part of 6 total conjugation processes that prepare substances to be used by the body or to be excreted. Think of these as the mail trucks that all of the mail is loaded into after it is sorted and Cytochrome P450 as the sorting system.
Common Things That Clog The Sink
There are a lot of moving parts to the biochemistry of the liver. All of the Phase 2 systems tend to filter out a few specific toxins. Some pathways are more equipped to filter stress hormones, some specialize to remove heavy metals, others filter medications, etc. Two of the most common metabolites that cause issues in the liver are stress hormones and the byproducts of infection. Chronic infections or stress can lead to a bottleneck effect in the liver that inhibits its ability to filter out these things.
There can be two different issues present when these detoxification pathways get backed up. There can be too many hormones, infection byproducts, medications, etc. to break down, or the “sink” can be clogged, not letting the filtration system work as it should. These don’t tend to be difficult to treat. Measures are taken to decrease whatever substances are clogging the system and then the proper nutrients are given to support the drain so the sink doesn’t get clogged.
Let’s Tie Things Together
There are plenty of other potential toxins to the liver or things that might clog the “sink”, but liver detoxification issues can be treated. To tie things back to the initial purpose of this article, use this information to equip yourself with the ability to spot a liver issue and seek treatment. If you are finding that you are having decreased energy, dry skin, tiredness following meals, difficulty getting over infections, digestive disturbances, and most importantly, you wake up between the hours of 1 and 3 every night, suspect a liver issue!
Your liver is one of the most important organs in your body. It is also one of the most resilient. Your liver has to deal with all of the crap that you feed it. This include alcohol, trans fats, and any unhealthy food or indulgence, so be nice to it and eat healthy. Give your body the ability to detoxify itself and fortify yourself with a healthy liver. Pay attention to patterns of waking throughout the night. The liver might just be to blame.
Although we only discussed sleep with the horary clock, there are organs that correlate to other times throughout the day. This is in accordance the two hour time slots that appear on the clock. When you notice issues happening at the same time every day, it might just be involved with the horary clock.
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