Herbal Notes – Sleep
To see the whole body, to understand what’s unfolding in terms of Shin-Ki-Ketsu, and to know which formula it calls for — this takes years of study and experience. So I don’t recommend choosing formulas on your own. What I do encourage is that you learn, so you can feel a real connection to the herbs you take.
（１）Blue Box:
Shin-calming (神, shen). For nights when something from the day won’t let you settle. I turn to this when something’s happened with my daughter and I can already tell it’ll sit with me into the night.
安神補心丸（Anshen Buxin Wan / Heart-Tonifying Spirit-Calming Pill）
構成の方向性：滋陰養血・養心安神（nourish yin and blood, tonify the Heart, calm the spirit）。丹参、五味子、石菖蒲、合歓皮、女貞子、墨旱蓮、地黄、珍珠母など。
病機：陰血不足により心神が養われない（Heart blood/yin deficiency, spirit not nourished）。
不眠のタイプ：眠りが浅く夢が多い、動悸、健忘、耳鳴り、ほてりを伴うもの（light sleep, vivid dreaming, palpitations, poor memory, tinnitus）。
→ 最も直接的に「安神」を狙った処方。慢性的な睡眠の質の低下、陰血虚タイプに向く。The most direct spirit-calming choice.
（２）Light green box:
With a light classical nod (ties to the 胃不和則臥不安 theme from the Baohe Wan discussion):
When I’ve eaten something hard to digest, eaten past what I needed, or my stomach is simply tired, rest won’t come — when the stomach is unsettled, sleep is too.
保和丸（Baohe Wan / Harmony-Preserving Pill）
構成：山楂、神麹、半夏、茯苓、陳皮、連翹、莱菔子。消食和胃（resolve food stagnation, harmonize the Stomach）。
病機：食滞（food stagnation in the middle jiao）。本来は安神薬ではない。
不眠との関係：「胃不和則臥不安」（when the Stomach is disharmonious, sleep is disturbed — Huangdi Neijing）。腹満・噯気・口臭・厚膩苔があり眠れないケース。
→ 消化器の停滞が睡眠を妨げている場合の間接的アプローチ。An indirect approach when food stagnation disrupts sleep.
（３）Orange Box:
As I near 50, my body doesn’t manage temperature the way it once did. Some days I feel too cold in an air-conditioned room; some nights I wake feeling warmer than usual. This is the body’s yin quietly thinning, and warmth no longer held in balance.陰虚火旺
知柏地黄丸（Zhibai Dihuang Wan / Anemarrhena-Phellodendron-Rehmannia Pill）
構成：六味地黄丸 ＋ 知母・黄柏。滋腎陰・清虚熱（nourish Kidney yin, clear deficiency heat）。
病機：腎陰虚＋虚火（Kidney yin deficiency with flaring deficiency fire / 陰虚火旺）。
不眠との関係：心腎不交（non-interaction of Heart and Kidney）に傾いた状態。寝汗、五心煩熱、ほてり、口渇、腰膝のだるさを伴う不眠。
→ 虚熱が睡眠を妨げているタイプに。Best when deficiency heat disturbs sleep — common in perimenopausal hot flashes.