Cheng, Li, Wang, Fei, Li, Zi-Heng et al. · Journal of ethnopharmacology · 2022 · DOI
This study examined how an ancient Chinese herbal remedy called Suanzaoren Decoction (SZRD) might help improve thinking and memory problems caused by poor sleep. Researchers used computer analysis and laboratory experiments to identify the active ingredients in the herbs and understand how they work in the body, finding that the remedy may work through pathways related to estrogen in the brain.
Cognitive impairment and sleep disturbance are major symptoms in ME/CFS, and this study offers a potential mechanism-based therapeutic approach grounded in traditional medicine. Understanding how herbal components modulate estrogen signaling and acetylcholinesterase activity could inform novel treatments for post-infectious cognitive dysfunction and sleep-related symptom clusters in ME/CFS.
This study does not demonstrate efficacy in human ME/CFS patients or establish that SZRD is clinically effective—only that it may work through estrogen signaling pathways in animal models. The findings are correlative and mechanistic rather than proving causation in disease pathology, and the translation from laboratory findings to clinical benefit in ME/CFS populations remains unestablished.
About the PEM badge: “PEM required” means post-exertional malaise was an explicit required diagnostic criterion for participant inclusion in this study — not that PEM was studied, observed, or discussed. Studies using criteria that do not require PEM (e.g. Fukuda, Oxford) are tagged “PEM not required”. How the atlas works →
The first block is for the primary paper and is the citation you should use in research work. The atlas-snapshot line only applies if you are specifically referring to this atlas’s reading of the paper on the date shown.
Primary citation
Cheng, Li, Wang, Fei, Li, Zi-Heng, Wen, Chun, Ding, Li, Zhang, Shun-Bo, et al. (2022). Study on the active components and mechanism of Suanzaoren decoction in improving cognitive impairment caused by sleep deprivation.. Journal of ethnopharmacology. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jep.2022.115502
BibTeX
@article{mecfsatlas-cheng-2022-study-active,
author = {Cheng, Li and Wang, Fei and Li, Zi-Heng and Wen, Chun and Ding, Li and Zhang, Shun-Bo and You, Qiu-Yun},
title = {Study on the active components and mechanism of Suanzaoren decoction in improving cognitive impairment caused by sleep deprivation.},
journal = {Journal of ethnopharmacology},
year = {2022},
doi = {10.1016/j.jep.2022.115502},
note = {PubMed: 35777606},
url = {https://www.mecfsatlas.com/evidence/cheng-2022-study-active},
}Atlas snapshot reference
ME/CFS Atlas. Generator v1 / Scanner v1.4 / policy v0.1. Accessed 2026-05-26. https://www.mecfsatlas.com/evidence/cheng-2022-study-active
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