When thoughts keep turning as evening falls

Thoughts that keep turning at bedtime, light sleep, waking in the early morning, nervousness, tiredness that weighs on you the next day, a feeling of warmth in the evening… In TCM, these signs may be associated with Heart Blood Deficiency, often accompanied by a slight heat: when Blood and Yin run short, the Heart can no longer house the Spirit (Shen) peacefully, and this heat comes to stir it.

Bu Nao An Shen Wan is a modern preparation from the Chinese pharmacopoeia. It contains five plants from Tian Wang Bu Xin Dan, the great formula that nourishes the Heart: red sage, Chinese angelica, schisandra, polygala and sour jujube seeds. To these it adds acorus, fleeceflower vine, anemarrhena and polygonatum.

Nourishing the Heart so the Shen can settle

Polygala and acorus, the two most generously dosed plants, form a classic pairing in the tradition: they calm the Shen and, in the time-honoured phrase, “open the orifices of the Heart”. Around them, the nourishing plants replenish Blood and Yin, and anemarrhena tempers the heat.

Calms the Shen: Polygala, acorus and sour jujube seeds calm the Shen; sour schisandra helps it stay settled.

Nourishes Blood and Qi: Chinese angelica nourishes the Blood, while prepared polygonatum supports Qi and Yin.

Contributes to peaceful sleep: Fleeceflower vine, whose Chinese name evokes an “intertwining at night”, nourishes Heart Blood and accompanies the return to rest.

Calms inner agitation: Anemarrhena and red sage, both cool, temper the slight heat that stirs the Shen in the evening.