Abstract:Insomnia is a prevalent clinical condition that not only diminishes the patient’s quality of life but also has the potential to give rise to further health complications. Traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) has been used to treat insomnia for thousands of years, with distinct advantages. TCM uses syndrome differentiation and therapy to achieve its therapeutic effects, by regulating the internal balance of the human body. To gain a deeper understanding of how TCM treats insomnia, it is crucial to create animal models that exhibit insomnia symptoms closely resembling those found in humans. This review summarizes the current disease-syndrome combination models, which can be classified into four categories: liver depression and Qi stagnation, heart-spleen deficiency, heart-kidney incompatibility, and Yin and blood deficiency. This paper focuses on specific modelling method ologies, assessment indicators, and model performances, with the aim of enhancing our understanding of the pathophysiology of insomnia in the context of TCM, and providing technical assistance for clinical efficacy evaluation and the creation of novel drugs.