Review Article

Classification of Insomnia Using the Traditional Chinese Medicine System: A Systematic Review

Table 3

Insomnia symptom checklist for TCM diagnostic purpose.

Sleep-related symptoms (n = 13): Difficulty falling asleep, difficulty falling asleep alone, difficulty falling asleep with vexation, difficulty staying asleep, excessive dreaming, frequent awakening with a start, half asleep, insomnia, insomnia with vexation, restless sleep, shallow sleep, sleeping late at night, unrefreshing sleep.

Non-sleep-related symptoms (n = 61): Abdominal distention, acid regurgitation, aphthous stomatitis, backache, belching, bitter taste, cold extremities, constipation, dizziness, dizziness with headache, dry mouth, dry throat, dyspnea, fatigue, favour of drinking, feverish sensations in the palms, soles, and chest, flusteredness, frequent sighing, fright palpitation, gastric stuffiness, headache, head distension, heavy headedness, hot flashes, hypochondriac distension, hypochondriac pain, impatience, irritability, lassitude, menstrual disturbance, nausea, night sweating, nocturnal emission, oliguria, oppression in the chest, pain in the chest and hypochondrium, pale and large amount of urine, palpitation, poor appetite, poor memory, profuse sputum, reddened cheeks, reddened complexion, reddish eyes, reddish urine, reduction in luster complexion or lusterless complexion, seminal emission, sloppy stool, sore knees, spermatorrhea, stuffiness in stomach and abdomen, stuffiness and pain in stomach and abdomen, susceptibility to fright, sweating, tasteless, thirst, thoughtful, tinnitus, vexation, vexation in sitting and lying down, weary limbs, yellow urine.

Tongue features (n = 11): Dry tongue, no coating, pale tongue, red in the tip of tongue, red tongue, scanty coating, slimy coating, thick coating, thin coating, white coating, yellow coating.

Pulse features (n = 7): Fine pulse, rapid pulse, slippery pulse, string-like pulse, sunken pulse, strong pulse, weak pulse.

Symptoms only listed in standard TCM textbooks but not in the reviewed studies are bolded.