You doze off to the sound of your favorite show playing. After a few pleasant dreams, a nightmare startles you awake.
Groggy, you snatch your phone from beside you and check the time. 3 AM, it reads for three nights in a row.
“Could this be a coincidence?” “Why do I wake up at 3 AM every night?” you ask yourself worryingly.
According to the spiritual world, waking up at 3 AM does hold significance. On the other hand, sleep experts believe that an overactive brain could be the culprit.
Unfinished tasks might be keeping you from your beauty sleep. Besides that, the spiritual sense holds other meanings to waking up at the late hour.
It could be a message from the universe, a spiritual guide trying to contact you, or a spiritual awakening.
Stick around to learn more about the spiritual meaning of waking up between 2 AM and 3 AM.
Frequently seeing the same numbers appearing can have spiritual meanings. If you would like to find out the meanings of seeing other numbers, we also have blogs on 321 angel number meaning and meaning of number 23.
What Does 3 AM Spiritually Symbolize?
In the spiritual realm, 3 AM is the witching hour. It symbolizes the growth in supernatural activity. Ghosts and demons are most active during this time.
It could be due to the thinning veil between the living and the dead as the hour closes in. In turn, the living will feel a closer attraction to the dead’s presence.
Meanwhile, the dead are more prone to interfere with the living. The spiritual world rarely believes in coincidences, making a regular 3 AM awakening significant.
Spiritual Meaning of Waking Up at 3 AM
From a spiritual awakening to increased psychic abilities, waking up at 3 AM holds multiple spiritual meanings.
1) Message from the Universe
You may live a happy and fulfilling life, so waking up at 3 AM seems odd to you. It could be the universe sending you a positive sign.
As the world becomes still and everyone falls asleep, the universe is waking you up. It wants to use this moment of quiet to think about your life.
It might be time to manifest and think about what you wish to achieve. According to the law of attraction, positive thoughts result in positive outcomes.
The philosophical notion may be pulling its way to you as you jolt up at 3 AM. These thoughts can manifest in your health, relationships, and finances.
You can practice gratitude, visualize your goals, and look at the glass half full. You’ll be one step closer to actualizing these positive ideals.
2) Spiritual Awakening
Your 3 AM awakening may not only be physical but spiritual as well. A spiritual awakening translates to a higher level of self-awareness.
The phase of enlightenment makes you more sensitive to your surroundings. You now question things more often, like your habits and ideals.
You may ask yourself, “I don’t enjoy this person’s company, so why am I talking to them so often?” “Why do I keep comparing myself to this person?”
Other signs of spiritual awakening could be letting go of attachments. They could be material, such as clothes.
People characterize themselves with their fashion sense or the car they drive. Once you enter the spiritual awakening phase, you become less in tune with these possessions.
Instead, you’re more focused on your spiritual identity. It explains why you’re waking up during a time when the spirits are most active.
3) Elevated Psychic Abilities
As you become more spiritually enlightened, your psychic abilities grow. When the veil thins between the spirit and the real world, your subconscious is aware and awakens you.
In this scenario, the spirits are trying to communicate with you. On the other hand, you need to be cautious and protect yourself.
Subsequently, harnessing your psychic ability requires patience. Let’s dig deeper into what being psychic means.
As a psychic, you can hear, sense, feel, see, or taste beyond the physical realm. You can take sensory data from a more nuanced spiritual, physical, and emotional level.
You’re meeting with a friend at the library, and as you walk down the street, you engage your senses. A couple walks by you, and you notice them holding hands.
Despite their physical connection, you sense that not all is well in paradise. The woman’s eyes are affixed to her phone. Meanwhile, her partner’s eyes wander worryingly through the same phone.
You sense deep insecurity in the man’s actions. The woman’s oblivion expresses nonchalance towards her significant other.
Noticing these patterns, energies, and emotions takes extra sensory ability. Consequently, a spiritual presence may have triggered your heightened senses at the late hour.
4) Coming Back from Astral Projection
You might be waking up at 3 AM because your astral body returned to your body. Astral projection is a phenomenon that occurs when you feel yourself leaving your physical body.
Over 8% to 20% of people claim to have experienced astral projection during their lifetime. The idea originated from theosophy, a mystical system.
It stipulates that humans have seven bodies ranging in a spectrum from the highest spiritual to the lowest physical. The third body is known as the “astral body.”
The body can travel through an astral plane. It allows you to go to various locations. Returning from the out-of-body experience calls for focusing back on your body.
You need to become more hyper-aware of your fingers, legs, and back as it lays on your bed. Once you awaken at 3 AM, you can reflect on what you just visualized.
5) Your Spiritual Guide Is Communicating With You
According to spiritual experts, everyone carries a guardian angel with them. They can communicate with us through various mediums, such as numbers and secret messages.
One of the other ways they can contact you is by jolting you awake at 3 AM. During that time, they have more power to communicate with living souls and guide them.
That said, your spiritual guide may have given a message to you during your sleep before waking you up.
In this case, you’ll want to keep a notepad next to you to jot down whatever you can remember. Nevertheless, you’ll want to keep your guard up because you may also be prone to demonic contact.
That said, these celestial guides come in several forms. They can be guardian angels, spirit animals, or departed loved ones. Here’s a brief breakdown of each.
Guardian Angel
Everyone has an assigned guardian angel. They dedicate their existence to your assistance through life’s troubles.
Spirit Animals
Spirit animals come in various forms depending on your life’s trajectory. It can be a lost pet or an animal symbolizing something you need. For instance, if you see a peacock, your life may require beauty and confidence.
Departed Loved Ones
Your departed loved ones can act as your spiritual guides. They may actively support you through career, relationship, and financial choices.
It can also be someone you don’t know. Instead, the guide may be someone that used to share a similar lifestyle as you. For instance, if you’re a devoted musician, your spiritual guide might be one too.
6) Experiencing Deep Sadness
Another reason you might wake up at 3 AM is you’re experiencing sadness. These late hours are associated with negative feelings spiritually.
Your subconscious feeling of sadness is keeping you from sleeping undisturbed. It can originate from any aspect of your life, whether in your relationship, family, or lifestyle.
For this reason, you need to address any negative thoughts circulating in your mind before sleeping. You can also try to do activities that’ll cheer you up.
The sadness may also come from you being too hard on yourself. Holding yourself to a specified standard is okay, but perfectionism can alter your perception.
It can make you feel unfulfilled over your accomplishments and hold you back. For this reason, you need to let go of the perfect ideal. Otherwise, your subconscious mind will badger you every night at the same hour.
7) Spiritual Warning
When waking up, try to be mindful of your feelings. Are you feeling scared or uneasy? It could be a negative sign that a malicious entity is trying to communicate with you.
During the witching hour, demonic presences are viable and can affect your sleep. In this case, you may need to contact a professional occultist or spiritual healer.
If you can’t connect to them now, you can keep a glass of salt water near you. Alternatively, place a black crystal tourmaline ball next to you.
What to Do After Waking Up at 3 AM
After waking up at 3 AM, falling back asleep can be challenging, especially if you wake up startled. The good news is that you can follow the tips below to get some shuteye back.
Use a White Noise Machine
White noise holds all frequencies with equal intensity. In turn, it masks the loud sounds keeping you from sleeping.
You can use a white noise machine. Alternatively, the whir of a fan or hum of an air conditioner can put you back to sleep.
Put a Sleep Mask On
Sleep masks block off any visual disturbances that could hinder your sleep. It can be the light coming off your phone.
The mask also helps in preventing headaches and dry eyes. A study showed that people using sleep masks and earplugs slept faster than those without.
Play Sleep Music
You can go back to sleep with calming music or a sleep podcast. The latter are primarily stories or meditation audio.
They provide breathing instructions to ease your heart rate into the night. You can find sleep podcasts that tell sleep-inducing boring stories.
Tips to Prevent Waking Up at 3 AM
While multiple spiritual reasons are waking you up at 3 AM, you can implement methods to improve your sleep quality.
Create the Ideal Sleep Environment
The perfect sleep environment is quiet, dark, and at a comfortable temperature. Plus, there shouldn’t be any electrical devices in the room.
You can use a white noise machine and a sleep mask to induce sleep faster.
Be Mindful of Your Consumption Habits Before Sleep
Trying to sleep while hopped up on caffeine will prove frustrating. You’ll also want to avoid eating large meals and consuming alcohol before bedtime.
The habit can slow your metabolism and signal your brain to wake up due to insulin release.
Set an Exercise Routine
Exercising in the morning can improve your sleep quality later at night. It relieves stress, which calms your mental state when it’s time to snooze.
Exercise also tires you out enough to increase your sleep drive during nighttime.
The Science Behind Waking Up at 3 AM
To understand why you’re waking up at 3 AM, it’s worth examining the four sleep cycle stages. You first encounter the transition between wakefulness to sleep.
Then, there’s light sleep followed by deep sleep, before ending at Rapid Eye Movement (REM) sleep. In most cases, waking up at 3 AM means you’re either in REM or deep sleep.
Aside from that, your 3 AM awakenings could result from:
-
- Stress and Anxiety: Intrusive and worrying thoughts can disturb your sleep cycle. They can raise your heart rate and make it difficult to go back to sleep.
- Bathroom Breaks: Although you’re sleeping, your body is still working. Nocturia, or urinating at night can come from drinking too much liquid or bladder issues.
- Medication: Medications like corticosteroids, antidepressants, diuretics, and beta-blockers can impact your sleep.
- Sleeping Disorder: From sleep apnea to insomnia, you might be affected by a sleep disorder waking you up at 3 AM.
Wrapping Up
Maintaining sleep quality is crucial for your health. Nevertheless, sometimes the spirits have other plans for you. Waking up at 3 AM could be a sign to change, manifest, or reflect.
Other times it can be your increased self-awareness. Jolting awake at 3 AM could also mean your astral body realigned with your physical one.
The best thing to do after a spiritual awakening is to reflect and go back to sleep. You can do so by playing sleep music or podcasts.
Besides that, you can also look at ways to improve your sleep quality, such as creating an ideal sleep-inducing environment.
Spirits aside, your sleep disruptions could also have a medical explanation worth exploring.
