{
    "slug": "heart-yin-deficiency",
    "name": "Heart Yin Deficiency",
    "pinyin": "Xin Yin Xu",
    "chinese": "心阴虚",
    "organ": "Heart",
    "nature": "deficiency",
    "family": "yin-deficiency",
    "summary": "The Heart has lost the cool, quiet fluid that lets it rest. Insomnia with a hot restless mind, palpitations, night sweats, a dry mouth, mouth ulcers, and a red tongue tip. The warm, dry version of Heart blood deficiency, and the usual sleep pattern of a dry, overworked person.",
    "picture": "The Heart is a lamp. Yin is the oil. When the oil runs low the flame flickers and smokes, and that is the hot, restless, sleepless mind.",
    "signs": {
        "key": [
            "Trouble falling asleep with a hot, busy mind",
            "Palpitations, worse at night",
            "Night sweats, hot palms",
            "Dry mouth, mouth ulcers",
            "A red tongue tip"
        ],
        "common": [
            "Anxiety, easily startled",
            "Forgetfulness",
            "Dry stools",
            "A flushed face in the evening",
            "Afternoon heat"
        ],
        "tongue": "Red, especially the tip, with little coat; sometimes a crack down the middle.",
        "pulse": "Thin and rapid."
    },
    "causes": [
        "Long worry and mental overwork",
        "Late nights",
        "A fever that burned fluids",
        "Kidney yin deficiency reaching the Heart",
        "Too much coffee and stimulants"
    ],
    "tell_apart": [
        {
            "slug": "heart-blood-deficiency",
            "how": "Blood deficiency is pale and cool: pale face, light sleep, a pale tongue. Yin deficiency is red and warm with night sweats and a red tongue tip."
        },
        {
            "slug": "heart-and-kidney-not-communicating",
            "how": "When the Kidney signs join in, sore back and night dry mouth and ringing ears, the Heart and Kidney are both low and the formula becomes Tian Wang Bu Xin Dan."
        },
        {
            "slug": "heart-fire",
            "how": "Heart fire is loud excess: a red face, mouth ulcers that burn, dark burning urine, a full rapid pulse. Yin deficiency is quiet and empty with a thin pulse."
        }
    ],
    "formulas": [
        {
            "slug": "tian-wang-bu-xin-dan",
            "role": "primary",
            "when": "The classic formula for this exact picture.",
            "pinyin": "Tian Wang Bu Xin Dan",
            "_links": {
                "self": "https://www.naturalherblibrary.com/api/v1/formula/tian-wang-bu-xin-dan",
                "html": "https://www.naturalherblibrary.com/formula/tian-wang-bu-xin-dan"
            }
        },
        {
            "slug": "gan-mai-da-zao-tang",
            "role": "gentle",
            "when": "Mild restlessness and tearfulness in a dry Heart.",
            "pinyin": "Gan Mai Da Zao Tang",
            "_links": {
                "self": "https://www.naturalherblibrary.com/api/v1/formula/gan-mai-da-zao-tang",
                "html": "https://www.naturalherblibrary.com/formula/gan-mai-da-zao-tang"
            }
        },
        {
            "slug": "suan-zao-ren-tang",
            "role": "alternative",
            "when": "When sleep is the main complaint and the heat signs are mild.",
            "pinyin": "Suan Zao Ren Tang",
            "_links": {
                "self": "https://www.naturalherblibrary.com/api/v1/formula/suan-zao-ren-tang",
                "html": "https://www.naturalherblibrary.com/formula/suan-zao-ren-tang"
            }
        }
    ],
    "herbs": [
        {
            "pinyin": "Mai Dong",
            "role": "Ophiopogon nourishes Heart yin.",
            "herb_slug": "root-of-dwarf-lilyturf-3",
            "_links": {
                "herb": "https://www.naturalherblibrary.com/api/v1/herb/root-of-dwarf-lilyturf-3",
                "html": "https://www.naturalherblibrary.com/herb/root-of-dwarf-lilyturf-3"
            }
        },
        {
            "pinyin": "Sheng Di Huang",
            "role": "Raw rehmannia cools the Heart blood.",
            "herb_slug": "fresh-rehmannia-root",
            "_links": {
                "herb": "https://www.naturalherblibrary.com/api/v1/herb/fresh-rehmannia-root",
                "html": "https://www.naturalherblibrary.com/herb/fresh-rehmannia-root"
            }
        },
        {
            "pinyin": "Bai Zi Ren",
            "role": "Arborvitae seed moistens and calms the Heart.",
            "herb_slug": "seed-of-chinese-arborvitae",
            "_links": {
                "herb": "https://www.naturalherblibrary.com/api/v1/herb/seed-of-chinese-arborvitae",
                "html": "https://www.naturalherblibrary.com/herb/seed-of-chinese-arborvitae"
            }
        },
        {
            "pinyin": "Suan Zao Ren",
            "role": "Sour jujube seed settles the Heart for sleep.",
            "herb_slug": "spine-date-seed",
            "_links": {
                "herb": "https://www.naturalherblibrary.com/api/v1/herb/spine-date-seed",
                "html": "https://www.naturalherblibrary.com/herb/spine-date-seed"
            }
        },
        {
            "pinyin": "Bai He",
            "role": "Lily bulb calms a restless, grieving Heart.",
            "herb_slug": "bulb-of-greenish-lily",
            "_links": {
                "herb": "https://www.naturalherblibrary.com/api/v1/herb/bulb-of-greenish-lily",
                "html": "https://www.naturalherblibrary.com/herb/bulb-of-greenish-lily"
            }
        },
        {
            "pinyin": "Wu Wei Zi",
            "role": "Schisandra holds the Heart qi and stops the night sweats.",
            "herb_slug": "chinese-magnoliavine-fruit",
            "_links": {
                "herb": "https://www.naturalherblibrary.com/api/v1/herb/chinese-magnoliavine-fruit",
                "html": "https://www.naturalherblibrary.com/herb/chinese-magnoliavine-fruit"
            }
        }
    ],
    "conditions": [
        "insomnia",
        "palpitations",
        "anxiety",
        "night-sweats",
        "mouth-sores",
        "forgetfulness"
    ],
    "habits": [
        "Stop mental work an hour before bed.",
        "No coffee after noon; it burns the oil.",
        "Lily bulb, pear, lotus seed, and wheat porridge soothe a dry Heart.",
        "A warm foot bath before bed brings the fire down."
    ],
    "watch": [
        "Sleep deepens within two to four weeks.",
        "Night sweats and palpitations ease.",
        "The red tongue tip fades."
    ],
    "sources": [
        {
            "title": "Maciocia, The Foundations of Chinese Medicine, 3rd edition",
            "note": "Heart yin deficiency."
        },
        {
            "title": "Bensky, Scheid, Ellis and Barolet, Chinese Herbal Medicine: Formulas and Strategies, 2nd edition",
            "note": "Tian Wang Bu Xin Dan."
        }
    ],
    "meta": {
        "status": "published",
        "last_updated": "2026-10-12",
        "reviewed_by": null
    },
    "_links": {
        "html": "https://www.naturalherblibrary.com/pattern/heart-yin-deficiency",
        "self": "https://www.naturalherblibrary.com/api/v1/pattern/heart-yin-deficiency",
        "index": "https://www.naturalherblibrary.com/api/v1/patterns"
    }
}