Sasang Constitution
Find your Sasang constitution and a health & food guide from 5 quick questions.
Diagnoses your Sasang constitution among the four types with five quick questions, plus a health and food guide. Sasang medicine is the system Yi Je-ma set out in Donguisusebowon at the close of the Joseon dynasty, holding that people are born with organs of differing size and so need different remedies for the same illness. The four types are divided accordingly: the Taeyang type has large lungs and a small liver, the Taeeum type the reverse. The five questions here cannot stand in for a constitutional assessment by a practitioner, so if you have a medical condition please consult a professional.
How it works
Answer five questions and we find your closest constitution among Taeyang, Taeeum, Soyang, and Soeum. The classification comes from Lee Je-ma's Sasang medicine and is offered as a guide to tendencies, not a medical diagnosis.
What you'll get
You see the disposition and physical tendencies of your constitution, the lifestyle and exercise that suit it, foods to favor and to avoid, love, work, and money, and this year's flow.
Sasang medicine was written to treat illness
The Donguisusebowon was not written to sort people by character but to treat the sick. Faced with the fact that the same remedy cured one patient and not another, Lee Je-ma concluded that the organs people are born with differ in size. Descriptions of temperament come down alongside the four constitutions because they served as clues for telling which constitution someone had, not because the aim was ever to divide character into four.
The Taeyang constitution is very rare
Sasang medicine does not hold that the four constitutions are evenly distributed. Taeeum is by far the most common, Soyang and Soeum follow, and Taeyang is said to occur in only a handful of people out of ten thousand. So if the result here comes out Taeyang, rather than taking it at face value it is worth reading the other descriptions too. The fewer the questions, the more often a rare category turns up more than it should.
How far five questions can take you
A clinic weighs build and bone structure, voice and manner of speech, complexion, pulse, and the whole history of what someone has suffered from, and settles the constitution from all of it together. This page asks five questions about disposition, which is one fragment of that. If the result feels off somewhere, it is less likely to be wrong than under-informed, so when you feel yourself sitting between two constitutions, read both.
How to actually use the food guidance
Memorising the lists and trying to match every meal to them rarely lasts. Take a few items you eat often as a reference, then note for a few days whether your stomach felt settled or heavy afterwards, and you will end up with a record more accurate for you than any list. The food distinctions in Sasang medicine were themselves assembled from exactly that kind of observation. The whole idea began with noticing that one person at a shared table struggles while the others do not.
Do not choose herbal remedies by this result
The point of Sasang medicine is precisely that the same herb helps one constitution and burdens another. That being so, choosing a remedy is not something five questions can settle. We would not suggest buying herbal medicine or a supplement simply because it is described as good for your constitution. If you have a chronic condition or are already taking medication, please consult a doctor or a practitioner first.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is this the same as a constitution diagnosis at a clinic?
No. It is a short guide that gauges tendencies from five questions, and it does not replace medical diagnosis or treatment.
The result feels ambiguous.
With so few questions it picks the nearest constitution rather than pinning one down. Comparing the food and lifestyle entries usually shows you which side actually suits your body better.
Do I have to eat only the foods for my constitution?
No. The food guidance in Sasang medicine simply separates what tends to sit well from what tends to burden you; it is not a list of prohibitions. If you have a condition or plan a large dietary change, speak to a professional.
Does my constitution stay the same for life?
Sasang medicine holds that the constitution you are born with does not change. This particular test, though, estimates it from five questions, so if your answers shift with mood or circumstance the result can shift too.