Educational information, not medical advice — ask your doctor or midwife.
An Shen Ding Zhi Wan is a classical Chinese herbal formula. Practitioners give it to people who feel jumpy, easily startled or anxious at night. It is also used for a racing heartbeat and broken sleep.
Its English name is Settle the Emotions Pill. That name describes the job it was given in traditional practice.
It is sold and prescribed as one finished product. You do not blend the herbs yourself. The usual recipe holds six items:
Ren Shen (ginseng)
Fu Ling and Fu Shen (poria mushroom)
Yuan Zhi (polygala root)
Shi Chang Pu (acorus rhizome)
Long Chi (fossilised animal tooth, a mineral)
Here is the honest verdict on the evidence. This formula has a long, respected history in Chinese medicine. But we could not find good published human trials of the finished formula.
Long use tells you that people have leaned on something for centuries. It does not tell you that the thing works. That holds for everything said below.
In Chinese medicine, the formula is said to boost the qi (vital energy) of the Heart and Gallbladder. It is also said to calm the shen (the mind or spirit). That is a traditional model of the body, not a account of measured biology.
In lab terms, two ingredients have drawn the most study. Polygala root and acorus rhizome hold compounds that affect nerve signals in animals. Poria holds sugars that had mild calming effects in rodents.
None of that has been shown in people who take this formula. Treat the mechanism as an unproven idea. It is not a settled explanation.
You will usually meet it in one of these forms:
Pills bound with honey or water. This is the traditional form and the one sold most often.
Strong granules or powder that you stir into hot water.
Capsules or tablets of dried extract.
A raw-herb decoction (a strong tea simmered from loose herbs), made to a practitioner's prescription.
Strength varies a lot between makers. One brand's pill may hold far more herb than another's. Choose a supplier that tests finished batches for heavy metals and shares the results.
The formula is credited to Cheng Guopeng's Yi Xue Xin Wu (Medical Revelations). The book came out in China in 1732, during the Qing dynasty. Some sources trace an earlier version to Song dynasty texts.
It was written for a pattern the classics call 'timidity and fright'. That pattern includes palpitations (a heartbeat you can feel) and disturbed sleep.
It has stayed in routine use in Chinese medicine ever since. It also appears in modern Chinese formula textbooks.
Stop taking it and see a doctor if you get yellow skin or eyes, dark urine, pain in the upper right side of your belly, or unusual tiredness. These can be signs of liver trouble.
Get urgent medical help if you have chest pain, fainting, a heartbeat that stays fast or irregular, trouble breathing, or swelling of the lips, tongue or throat.
See your doctor soon if you bruise or bleed more easily than usual, if your blood sugar readings swing while you are on diabetes medicine, or if vomiting or stomach pain does not settle within a day or two of stopping.
And see a doctor rather than continuing on your own if anxiety, panic or sleeplessness is getting worse, or if you have thoughts of harming yourself.
Evidence grades and traditional-use labels are explained in our methodology. Nothing here is medical advice.
What it is typically used for, usual dose, cautions, and the study behind it where real trial data exists.
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