The World Health Organization (WHO) is increasingly stressing the importance of living a healthy lifestyle in its health promotion work. Lifestyle is associated inextricably with ethnic and cultural mores. Traditional Chinese medicine is closely tied to traditional culture, with traditional Chinese medicine concepts accepted by and woven into the daily life of people living in Taiwan. Traditional Chinese medicine embodies comprehensive principles and methods for maintaining personal health in daily life, which helps prevent disease. Thus, traditional Chinese medicine encompasses and reflects daily life concepts advocated by the WHO and fits within the framework of WHO traditional medical policies. This article was written to introduce the principles of health promotion of daily life as advocated by traditional Chinese medicine, including regular daily activities (sleep, diet, defecation and exercise) and methods of preventing unhealthy environmental factors from negatively impacting human health. Health promotion principles and methods embodied in traditional Chinese medicine may serve as a reference for enhancing health promotion and policy development work of health institutions.