Ching-Tse Lee


Modern medicine has achieved remarkable advances in the diagnosis and treatment of disease. Nevertheless, contemporary healthcare remains largely disease-centered, focusing primarily on pathological conditions after physiological dysfunction has already occurred. The increasing prevalence of chronic diseases, stress-related disorders, and age-associated functional decline suggests that the absence of diagnosable disease does not necessarily equate to optimal health.

Kiology proposes a complementary model that shifts the focus from pathology toward physiological integration. Rather than viewing the human body as a collection of isolated organs, Kiology conceptualizes it as an integrated system of physiological energies and interacting biological networks. From this perspective, health is an emergent property arising from the dynamic coordination of multiple physiological systems, including the autonomic nervous, cardiovascular, respiratory, musculoskeletal, endocrine, and immune systems, as well as fascial, connective-tissue, and interstitial networks.

Within this framework, Ki (氣; subtle energy) is not regarded simply as a mysterious or metaphysical entity, but as a manifestation of integrated physiological functioning that may potentially be characterized through measurable biological signals. Health is associated with a high degree of physiological integration, efficient communication among systems, robust adaptive capacity, rapid recovery from perturbations, and sustained resilience. Conversely, disease may be understood, in part, as the progressive deterioration of whole-system coordination—a process that may begin before overt structural pathology or clinically recognizable disease becomes apparent.

This systems-based perspective is broadly consistent with emerging concepts in network physiology, complexity science, systems biology, psychoneuroimmunology, and allostasis. Increasingly, health is understood not as a static state of equilibrium, but as a dynamic process characterized by adaptability. The capacity of the human organism to continually reorganize itself in response to internal and external challenges is a fundamental characteristic of health.

The Kiology Index: Quantifying Physiological Integration
To operationalize this concept, Kiology proposes the Kiology Index (KI), a composite measure intended to quantify whole-body physiological integration. By integrating multimodal physiological information—including autonomic regulation, respiratory dynamics, cardiovascular coordination, neural activity, movement characteristics, and potentially biochemical or behavioral indicators—the KI is intended to provide a quantitative assessment of adaptive physiological integration.

Rather than simply classifying individuals as healthy or diseased, the Kiology Index conceptualizes health along a continuum:

  • KI < 30: Physiological dysregulationCharacterized by reduced adaptive capacity and impaired coordination among physiological systems.
  • KI 30–50: Compensatory functioningPhysiological stability is maintained through increased regulatory and compensatory effort.
  • KI 50–70: Stable homeostatic integrationPhysiological systems demonstrate effective coordination and adequate resilience.
  • KI > 70: Optimal adaptive integrationReflects highly coordinated physiological networks, enhanced adaptive capacity, and greater resilience.

These thresholds represent a preliminary theoretical framework rather than established clinical cutoffs. They will ultimately require refinement and validation through population-based studies, longitudinal investigations, and outcome-oriented analyses.

The potential implications extend beyond conventional diagnosis. If scientifically validated, the Kiology Index could serve as a biomarker for tracking health trajectories, evaluating lifestyle and behavioral interventions, guiding personalized health management, and identifying declining physiological resilience before the onset of clinically apparent disease. By emphasizing prevention, optimization, and restoration of adaptive capacity, this approach may complement conventional medicine.

From Disease Management to Optimal Health Ultimately, Kiology seeks to redefine healthcare along a continuum extending from disease management to optimal human health. Its central proposition is that the highest goal of medicine should not be limited to the elimination or treatment of disease, but should also include the cultivation and maintenance of integrated health, adaptive capacity, and physiological resilience.

With continuing advances in wearable biosensors, artificial intelligence, digital health technologies, and systems physiology, the ability to quantify whole-body physiological integration may become an important frontier in twenty-first-century healthcare.²

¹ For further discussion of the conceptual foundations of Kiology, please refer to the series of articles on Kiology by Ching-Tse Lee, published on the Overseas Taiwanese Pen Club platform.
² A more detailed presentation and discussion of Kiology, the Kiology Index, and the proposed integrative model of human health will be presented at the 2026 Annual Meeting of the Overseas Taiwanese Pen Club on August 15, 2026.
Ching-Tse Lee on August 15, 2026

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