Ep 618: Decoding Your Insomnia with The Chinese Medicine Organ Clock

Waking up between 2-5 AM every night? Your sleep struggles may not actually start at bedtime.

In this episode of The Health Fix Podcast, Dr. Jannine Krause dives into the neurological, energetic, and Chinese Medicine perspective of insomnia and why what you do during the day may be the biggest factor impacting your nights.

After years of battling insomnia herself and surviving on just 2-4 hours of sleep Dr. Jannine shares her journey through endless sleep solutions including melatonin, herbs, L-theanine, ashwagandha, 5-HTP, progesterone, magnesium, and more.

But eventually, the supplements stopped working.

The missing piece?

Looking beyond the nighttime routine and understanding how your daily habits, digestion, hydration, circulation, stress, hormones, and organ rhythms influence your sleep.

In this episode, you'll learn how the Chinese Medicine Organ Clock may provide clues about why you wake up at specific times and what your body could be communicating.

Dr. Jannine also explores why detox pathways, lymphatic flow, gallbladder function, liver health, and lung function may influence insomnia patterns.

If you've tried "all the things" for sleep and nothing seems to work, this episode offers a different perspective.

Your body isn't broken it's asking for a different approach to sleep. 

What You'll Learn In This Episode: 

• Why waking between 1-3 AM may connect to liver function, stress, detox pathways, and emotional processing
• The connection between 3-5 AM wake ups and lung health, oxygen delivery, circulation, and stress
• How digestion during the day impacts nighttime sleep
• Why hydration between 3-5p matters for detox and sleep quality
• How your afternoon habits may be sabotaging your nights
• Why your sleep hygiene starts at 1p
• How HRV tracking helped identify the habits improving Dr. Jannine's own sleep

Chinese Medicine Sleep Clock Breakdown

9 PM - 11 PM: Lymphatic + endocrine reset Trouble falling asleep may indicate stress, lymph stagnation, or nervous system imbalance.

11 PM - 1 AM: Gallbladder Possible connection with digestion, fat metabolism, and unresolved decisions.

1 AM - 3 AM: Liver Associated with detoxification, hormones, blood processing, stress, anger, and frustration.

3 AM - 5 AM: Lung Connected with breathing, oxygen, grief, immune function, allergies, and circulation.

Resources From The Show: