Which of the eight bodies is yours?
For over two thousand years, Chinese medicine has known something modern wellness is only just rediscovering: there is no such thing as advice that suits everyone — because there is no such thing as an everyone. Take the quiz, read your constitution, and leave with health advice written for your body, not everybody's.
- Balanced
- Qi Deficiency
- Yang Deficiency
- Yin Deficiency
- Qi Stagnation
- Blood Deficiency
- Blood Stasis
- Dampness
The quiz takes about 3 minutes. Your constitution guide takes about 5.
Your body has a baseline. Chinese medicine has been reading it for two millennia.
For over two thousand years, Chinese medicine has known something modern wellness is only just rediscovering: there is no such thing as advice that suits everyone — because there is no such thing as an everyone.
The reason your friend thrives on cold smoothies while they leave you bloated. The reason one person runs hot at night while another can't warm their feet in July. The reason the same stressful week gives one colleague headaches and another a churning stomach. In Traditional Chinese Medicine the answer is your body constitution — your body's underlying pattern, the terrain on which your health is built.
Think of it as your body's climate. Some bodies run warm, some cool. Some hold water, some run dry. Some energy systems are robust, some are easily drained, and some are strong but stuck. This climate shapes everything: how you sleep, digest, handle stress, recover — even the kind of tired you feel at 4pm.
That is precisely what constitution work is. You are not diagnosing an illness. You are learning your terrain — where your body is strong, where it tends to slip — so you can correct the slope before it becomes a slide. And the classics add the second idea, just as important:
1 · A tendency, not a diagnosis
Constitution describes your pattern, not a disease. Knowing you tend toward dampness is like knowing your house tends toward condensation — enormously useful, and not the same as the surveyor condemning the building.
2 · Most people are a blend
A "pure" single constitution is the exception. Most of us have one dominant pattern and one or two supporting actors — the quiz below is built to show you exactly that.
3 · It can change — that's the point
Constitution is 可調 — adjustable. It shifts with age, seasons, diet, stress and habit. What you'll read here isn't a life sentence; it's a map for the journey back toward balance.
This page stands on classical foundations: the eight types are adapted from the nine-constitution classification developed by Professor Wang Qi at Beijing University of Chinese Medicine — the framework used in hospitals and national health surveys across China — combined with Blood Deficiency, a cornerstone pattern of classical clinical practice, particularly in women's health.
Four resources. Two ways things go wrong.
Strip Chinese medicine to its chassis and your body runs on four resources:
Qi — energy & function
The force that powers every process: digestion, immunity, warmth, movement, even your posture. When people say "I have no energy," a TCM practitioner hears qi.
Blood — nourishment & moisture
More than biology-class blood: what feeds your tissues, moistens skin and eyes, steadies the mind and anchors sleep. A well-blooded body is calm, supple, and rests deeply.
Yin — coolant & reserves
The moistening, cooling, settling aspect — your body's deep water table. Yin is what lets you switch off, cool down, and sleep through the night.
Yang — fire & drive
The warming, activating aspect — your metabolic pilot light. Yang is why your hands are warm, your digestion is quick, and your mornings are possible.
And only two fundamental ways things go wrong:
Deficient or stuck. Nearly everything you'll ever feel — the fatigue, the cold feet, the 3am ceiling-staring, the tension headaches, the bloating — is one of those two stories, told through one of these four resources. The quiz below simply works out which story is yours.
Three minutes. Forty-two questions. One honest picture of your body.
Modelled on the Constitution in Chinese Medicine Questionnaire — the validated instrument developed by Professor Wang Qi and used in clinical research and hospital practice across China — adapted for the eight constitutions we work with at Cheuk's.
The quiz is a self-reflection tool for general wellbeing, not a medical assessment. Your answers never leave this device. If something in your results concerns you, that's a conversation for your GP — and if you'd like a professional TCM reading of your constitution, that is exactly what a clinic consultation is for.
Find yourself in the pattern
Each constitution has its own full guide — classic signs, what makes it worse, and what helps: lifestyle, food therapy and acupressure, the way we'd explain it across the treatment couch. Choose your pattern, or let the quiz choose for you.
Energy that lasts, sleep that repairs, digestion you never think about — the state the other seven are trying to get back to.
Read the guide → 氣虛Qi DeficiencyThe Drained BatteryTired easily, breathless on stairs, catching every cold going round. The engine runs; it just runs small.
Read the guide → 陽虛Yang DeficiencyThe Low Pilot LightThe one in the jumper in June. Cold hands, cold feet, a lower back that loves a hot-water bottle.
Read the guide → 陰虛Yin DeficiencyThe Dry RiverbedFine all day, betrayed at night: warm palms at 11pm, covers off at 2am, mind bright the whole time.
Read the guide → 氣鬱Qi StagnationThe Held BreathSighing without noticing, shoulders an inch too high, digestion that reads your inbox.
Read the guide → 血虛Blood DeficiencyThe Unwatered GardenDizzy on standing, tired eyes, sleep that won't hold — with vivid, busy dreams at 3am.
Read the guide → 血瘀Blood StasisThe Slow RiverPain with an address: fixed, sharp, worse at night. Unexplained bruises; shadows sleep doesn't lift.
Read the guide → 痰濕DampnessThe Morning FogHeavy limbs, muffled head, sticky mouth — all worse when Bristol does what Bristol does.
Read the guide →Because bodies don't read textbooks
If your quiz returned two high scores, you're not an edge case — you're the norm. Constitutions travel in company, and the pairings follow a logic every practitioner knows by heart. The working rule: address your primary constitution for a season, keep the second in view, and retake the quiz at the next change of season. Constitution work is gardening, not surgery.
Qi Deficiency + Dampness
The tired and heavy pattern. A weak Spleen both under-produces energy and under-processes fluids: one organ, two invoices. Lead with the Qi Deficiency advice; add the damp-drainers; drop cold-raw food entirely.
Qi Stagnation + Blood Stasis
The tense-then-painful pattern. Qi that stops moving eventually leaves blood moving slowly: today's knots become tomorrow's fixed aches. Movement and expression first — tend the stagnation before it settles.
Yin Deficiency + Blood Deficiency
The dry-and-depleted pattern, common in midlife and after long depletion: thin sleep, dry eyes, restless warmth. Nourishment and early nights are one prescription, not two.
Yang Deficiency + Dampness
The cold-and-waterlogged pattern: a low fire that can't dry the house. Warmth is the drainage — warming foods, warming movement, nothing iced.
Qi Stagnation + Yin Deficiency
Wired and dry: the over-scheduled achiever's special. The wind-down ritual is non-negotiable; movement gentle, evenings guarded.
When to seek more than a webpage
- See your GP first for red-flag changes: unexplained weight loss, persistent unexplained pain, blood where blood shouldn't be, chest pain, breathlessness at rest, new severe headaches, or anything rapidly worsening. TCM constitution work sits alongside medical care, never in place of it.
- Bruising and fatigue that are new, dramatic or progressive deserve a blood test before they deserve a congee recipe.
- Pregnancy changes the rules: several acupressure points named above (SP6, LI4, SP10 and the Four Gates pairing) are traditionally avoided in pregnancy, and supplements should be run past your midwife or GP. Tell us if you're pregnant when booking — treatment adapts.
- On medication? Check with your pharmacist or GP before adding botanical supplements. Bring the packet to your consultation; we read labels for a living.
This guide and quiz support general wellbeing and are not a substitute for medical diagnosis or treatment. Always consult your GP for medical concerns. Food supplements should not be used as a substitute for a varied and balanced diet and a healthy lifestyle.
FAQ
Is this quiz a medical diagnosis?
How accurate is it?
Can my constitution change?
What if I scored high on two or three types?
Why does the quiz ask about my menstrual cycle?
I scored "Balanced" — should I do anything?
Do the supplements replace seeing a practitioner?
Is this suitable for children?
Your constitution isn't a verdict. It's a map.
Two thousand years of Chinese medicine, one three-minute quiz, and a body you'll understand better by teatime. Whatever your pattern — take its advice for a season, and let us know what changes.
Cheuk's Wellness & TCM · ATCM-registered practitioner (FM 0220069) · 96a High Street, Staple Hill, Bristol