Whether or not to soak Chinese herbal medicines or the exact time of soaking Chinese herbal medicines needs to be decided according to the properties of the medicines. Some herbs should be soaked before decoction, so that the water soaked into the herbs, beneficial to the decoction of the active ingredients of the drug, such as stems, leaves, flowers, need to be soaked, but the time does not need to be too long, only 20 minutes or so; roots, seeds, fruits of traditional Chinese medicine, the need to soak for a longer period of time, more than an hour or more. However, some drugs do not need to be soaked before decoction, such as aromatic Chinese medicine wood, sand nuts and so on do not need to be soaked. The time of decoction should be determined according to the disease to be treated, the performance of the drug and the patient’s own situation, and it is recommended that the decoction be carried out by professionals, not privately, so as not to affect the efficacy of the drug.