94% of researchers rate our articles as excellent or good
Learn more about the work of our research integrity team to safeguard the quality of each article we publish.
Find out more
REVIEW article
Front. Pharmacol.
Sec. Ethnopharmacology
Volume 16 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fphar.2025.1572007
Gut Microbiota: A New Target for the Prevention and Treatment of Insomnia Using Chinese Herbal Medicines and Their Active Components
Provisionally accepted- 1Heilongjiang University of Chinese Medicine, Harbin, China
- 2Fourth Affiliated Hospital of Heilongjiang University of traditional Chinese Medicine, Harbin, Heilongjiang Province, China
Select one of your emails
You have multiple emails registered with Frontiers:
Notify me on publication
Please enter your email address:
If you already have an account, please login
You don't have a Frontiers account ? You can register here
The emergence of the microbiota-gut-brain axis has opened new avenues for improving sleep quality. Recent studies have revealed a close relationship between insomnia and the gut microbiome. Chinese herbal medicines and their active components can alter the relative abundance of sleep-related gut microbiota by reversing dysbiosis in the gut microbiome. Improving sleep quality through the regulation of the gut microbiota using herbal medicine and its active components has become a highly promising therapeutic strategy. This article elucidates how the gut microbiota modulates sleep quality via the intricate communication network of the gut-brain axis. It also reviews the latest research on utilizing herbal medicine and its active components to regulate the gut microbiota for enhancing sleep quality. Additionally, it provides insights into the potential of herbal medicine and its active components in improving sleep quality through the modulation of the gut microbiota.
Keywords: Chinese herbal medicines and their active components, microbiota-gutbrain axis, insomnia, improving sleep quality, Gut Microbiota
Received: 06 Feb 2025; Accepted: 18 Apr 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Wu, Dou, song, Yang, Liu, song and Zhang. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Xiwu Zhang, Heilongjiang University of Chinese Medicine, Harbin, China
Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.