QiLifeIs your daily rhythm working against you?
Twenty questions on sleep, energy, appetite and timing. You get your chronotype, the rhythm you are currently running, and where the two disagree.
20 questions · about 4 minutes · 1 dimension · no account needed · updated
The Body Clock in Chinese medicine divides the day into twelve two-hour periods, each governed by a meridian and an organ. The Body Clock Check does not tell you what to do at each hour — it tells you whether your own rhythm is aligned with the one you are living by.
There are two rhythms in play. Your natural chronotype is the pattern your body tends toward: whether you come alive early or late, how your energy moves through the day. The rhythm you are running is what your actual schedule permits. Most problems come from the gap between them, not from either one alone.
What a mismatch looks like
Someone who is naturally a morning type on a schedule that demands late nights will show a consistent pattern: falling asleep hard, waking unrefreshed, an energy peak that arrives in the evening rather than the morning, and difficulty switching off at night. Nothing is wrong with them medically — the schedule is simply fighting the chronotype.
That mismatch is also what the meridian clock describes. The Liver period runs from 1am to 3am; the classical reading is that waking then signals Liver Qi strain, and that consistent waking in that window is worth treating as a pattern rather than as bad luck. The result tells you which periods your own answers suggest are under strain.
What you get
A chronotype classification, a comparison between the rhythm you are running and the one your answers suggest, the specific two-hour periods most likely to be causing difficulty for you, and a shift plan with concrete timings rather than general advice.
The shift plan is built around one anchor. Fixing one end of the day — usually a consistent wake time, with morning daylight — tends to move the other end more reliably than trying to change bedtime directly.
Where the twelve-hour cycle comes from
It comes from the horary cycle, described in classical texts as Qi moving through the twelve primary meridians in a fixed sequence, spending about two hours at peak intensity in each. The reasoning is practical: when a channel is at its peak, it is said to be most responsive to what you do for it, and most vulnerable when it is at its opposite.
The single most repeated instruction across this material is to be asleep before 11pm, so that the Gallbladder and Liver periods are not spent awake. Whether or not one accepts the meridian framing, most people find the advice worth testing because it is cheap to try and easy to measure.
Questions people ask
How do I know if I am a morning or evening type?
The test works it out from your answers, but there is a quick manual check: if you are at your best in the first third of the day and crash after lunch, you are a morning type; if you are slow to start and only come alive late, you are an evening type. Most people are neither extreme, and shift workers often have no clear type at all.
I wake up at 3am most nights. Is that a problem?
Waking in the small hours is one of the most commonly reported patterns in this framework — it falls in the Liver period and is traditionally read as a sign of Qi strain rather than of a Liver condition. It is also worth ruling out ordinary causes first: light, noise, alcohol, late meals, or a bladder that needs emptying.
Does this replace the meridian clock chart?
It answers a different question. A meridian clock chart tells you which two-hour window you are in and what the classical advice for that window is. This test tells you whether your personal rhythm fits the schedule you are living by, and which specific windows are causing you trouble. Most people want both.
How long before my rhythm shifts?
Anchoring one end of the day — usually a consistent wake time plus daylight within an hour of waking — typically produces a noticeable shift within two to three weeks. Changing sleep timing in both directions at once tends to work less well, because the body has no fixed reference point.
Patterns this assessment connects to
Each pattern page below explains what the pattern is, the signs that suggest it, and which acupoints, foods and teas the library lists against it.
Qi Stagnation
Qi stagnation is Qi that cannot move — emotion, breath and digestion pile up, and the pressure shows up in the chest, throat or mood.
Yin Deficiency
Yin deficiency is insufficient cooling, moistening fluid — you run warm and dry, and rest does not fully restore you.
Heart
The Heart governs blood and vessels, and houses the Shen — the classical term for the mind and consciousness.
Spleen
The Spleen governs transformation and transport — turning food and drink into usable energy, and moving what has been transformed.
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