Dear Patient,
I’ve written before about why we tend up wake up in the middle of the night around 3AM.
But what about 3PM? What’s up with that mid-afternoon slump?
Habits certainly play a role. You’re likely a couple of hours post-lunch, in a window when blood sugar naturally declines for some people, especially if you’ve had a carb-heavy meal. Maybe you’ve conditioned your body to expect a snack or caffeine boost. If you have a sedentary job, you’ve likely been sitting for hours by the time 3PM rolls around.
But what’s going on energetically?
Let’s look at it from the perspective of the Chinese Medicine body clock.
The Chinese Medicine body clock divides a 24-hour day into 2-hour time blocks, each corresponding with a specific organ system. For example, 1-3AM is Liver time, and the Liver is highly impacted by stress, which is why insomnia often strikes around 3AM. But let’s look at the opposite side of the clock.
1-3PM corresponds with the Small Intestine.
In Chinese Medicine we say that the primary responsibility of the Small Intestine is to “separate the clear from the turbid,” meaning it sorts through food material from the Stomach, retains what is helpful to the body and sends the waste products on to the Large Intestine. This is similar to how the small intestine functions physiologically. Its inner lining absorbs vital nutrients, minerals and water from the food we eat. The rest moves on to the large intestine for excretion. In fact, about 90% of digestion and absorption takes place in the small intestine.
But the Small Intestine doesn’t only sort food nutrients. It helps us make sense of the many stimuli that come at us in the course of a day, separating clear and turbid thoughts, emotions and energies, helping us hold on to what’s important and let go of the rest. By 3PM, your Small Intestine has likely been sorting out mental stimuli for hours. No wonder you’re ready for a nap.
It’s natural for our mental energy to wane from 1-3PM while the body’s Small Intestine energy absorbs and digests food nutrients. That’s why it’s good to put a pause on mental stimulation during mealtime. Zone out, stare off into space, or just enjoy a few moments of rest, rather than trying to squeeze every possible drop of productivity out of your day. Give the Small Intestine just one thing to do at a time—digest food, or digest information, but not both simultaneously.
We all need breaks from the constant demands on the Small Intestine to separate the clear from the turbid. When the Small Intestine is functioning optimally and not in a state of overwhelm, pure qi ascends to the head and nourishes the brain. You might find that 3PM becomes your most clear-headed time of day.
Love and gratitude,
Your Acupuncturist
Is the 5-7am section always positioned on the left hand side of the circle? I can't help but notice the obvious similarities to an astrological wheel, with the "rising sign" positioned on the left side, on the horizontal section. Is this a coincidence or is there a deeper meaning, although the astrological circle is counterclockwise. Here the circle goes clockwise. Shouldn't the circle start with 11pm-1am? What's the reason for this from a Chinese medicine point of view?
So interesting. 1-3 is when I am always in meetings - so it's my most "heady" time of the day. I've had a week of constipation which has been quite awful and I've been feeling "stuck in the mud", like unable to clear my thoughts. The acupressure stuff I found for constipation doesn't mention the small intestine much! But I can say Stomach 36 has been sore and I have been regularly massaging it after hearing your last podcast.