Recently, a patient mentioned that they wake up at 2 or 3 a.m. every night and then toss and turn, unable to fall back asleep. Why does this happen? In fact, this situation warrants attention to liver issues!

Traditional Chinese Medicine believes that the period from 1 a.m. to 3 a.m. is when the liver meridian is most active, akin to the liver working the night shift. If you consistently wake up at this time, nine times out of ten, the liver is likely the culprit. If this occurs for a short period, it might be due to recent high stress or significant emotional fluctuations, leading to liver qi stagnation or excessive liver fire. In such cases, it's necessary to adjust the liver according to the specific situation.

If you also experience sensations of a foreign body in the throat, tossing and turning at night unable to sleep, usually feeling melancholy, low spirits, chest and rib pain, and other symptoms, and upon extending your tongue, you notice that the sides of the tongue are swollen, this is often insomnia caused by liver depression. In this case, you may try Chai Hu Shu Gan Wan to help disperse the stagnant qi in the liver.

If, in addition to insomnia and waking up early, you also have a bad temper, are irritable and prone to anger, frequently lose your temper, experience a dry and bitter taste in the mouth, red and painful eyes, headache, tinnitus, and other symptoms, and upon examining your tongue, you see that both sides are red, this is often caused by excessive liver fire. In this case, consider using Xie Gan An Shen Wan to reduce liver fire and calm the mind.

If you often feel dry mouth and thirst, warmth in the palms of your hands and soles of your feet, restlessness and heat sensations, insomnia with excessive dreaming, night sweats during sleep, soreness and weakness in the lower back and knees, heel pain, tearing in the wind, dry and uncomfortable eyes, blurred vision, and other symptoms, and upon examining your tongue, it appears red with little or no coating, this is often due to yin deficiency of the liver and kidneys. In this case, you may try Qi Ju Di Huang Wan to replenish the yin fluids of the liver and kidneys.

The content of this article is for knowledge and information purposes only. We must remind everyone: if you consistently wake up at two or three in the morning, do not take it lightly. When discomfort occurs in the body, it is still necessary to seek medical attention promptly and undergo treatment under the guidance of a doctor's pattern differentiation. Never blindly follow trends in using medications!