I keep waking up at 4am – is it stress or the spirit world?

The culprit for early morning waking is usually insomnia, age, anxiety, menopause or diet, but Charlotte Cripps finds more unconventional reasons, including guardian angels

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Why do I randomly wake up at the same time each night? It’s always 4am on the dot. I’m starting to wonder if it has some special significance - beyond sheer annoyance. I’ve tried eyemasks. Relaxation techniques. Electrolyte sachets with added magnesium. Nothing works. Every night: 4am.

A 2021 study titled The Different Faces of Insomnia found that 40 per cent of us experience early morning waking, and have trouble falling back to sleep again. The typical reasons trotted out often include the menopause, insomnia, stress, ageing, medications, diet and pain. But, lying awake in the quiet of the night researching my problem, I come across another, altogether more exotic explanation: the spirit world.

According to folklore, the “witching hour”, variably said to be between midnight and 4am, is when the veil between the living and the spirit world is believed to be paper-thin, making communication with spirits easier; waking up signals that you are spiritually in tune. It may, if you believe such things, indicate astral travel-the soul returning to the body after traversing other universes. My penchant for 4am rousings might mean that spirit guides are sending important messages, or guiding me towards my destiny.

In desperation, I decided to look into the woo-woo rationale behind these claims, as well as the more scientific explanations, in the hope I might find a solution. If that means accepting that a guardian angel is trying to alert me to important news, or that my racing mind is egged on by an overactive third eye chakra, then so be it. I don’t want to knock myself out with sleeping pills - or scroll the news headlines on my phone at dawn.