Currently, Chinese medicine practitioners who develop a special interest in a particular health condition such as insomnia have to consult a variety of sources to further their knowledge. Typically, they use the contemporary clinical literature to understand the theory, aetiology, pathogenesis and obtain expert opinions on the Chinese medicine management of insomnia. They search the electronic literature to identify systematic reviews of clinical trials, if any exist, to obtain assessments of the current state of the clinical evidence for particular interventions. If they have the skills and resources, they may search the classical Chinese medicine literature for an historical perspective on treatments that have stood the test of time.