Health & Physical Development
Can a young adult describe a symptom, find reliable help, prepare a meal, manage sleep, and maintain usable physical capability? Health education should equip people to care for themselves, not just pass gym class or follow a wellness trend.
Health, Self-Care, and Physical Capability for Teens
The Floor defines required health and physical capabilities. The larger domain includes lifelong fitness, health knowledge, prevention, and increasingly independent care.
What young adults should be able to do by 18 · The formal Floor: Domain 7
The Floor for This Domain
The non-negotiable minimum. This is the contract, not the menu — what a floor-complete 18-year-old must actually be able to do.
- Take responsibility for their own body—they do not need to be nagged about sleep, hygiene, nutrition, or movement
- Feed themselves well: understand what food does, cook real meals, make reasonable choices without obsession or denial
- Maintain top-10% age-group fitness—not through obsession, but through consistent habits and genuine engagement with their physical health
- Recognize when something is wrong with their body and take appropriate action—when to rest, when to treat it themselves, when to seek help
- Handle basic first aid and emergency response: stop bleeding, stabilize an injury, call for help, not panic
- Understand how substances work—alcohol, caffeine, drugs, medications—and make informed choices about what they put in their body
- Manage stress without destructive coping mechanisms—have actual tools that work for them
- Understand their own mental health patterns well enough to notice when they're struggling and ask for support
- Know how sex, reproduction, and consent work—no gaps, no shame, just accurate information and clear thinking
Not on the Floor
- Elite athletic achievement or competition
- Specific diet ideologies
- Medical self-diagnosis
The Broader Map
The fuller landscape this domain engages over time. Inclusion here does not by itself make a competency mandatory.
Core Outcomes
- Maintain lifelong physical & mental wellness
- Understand the body–mind–habit performance loop
Key Competencies
- Nutrition & fueling strategies
- Cooking real meals & everyday food competence (closely linked to Domain 10 food prep)
- Exercise science & fitness routines
- Sports & athletic games
- Martial arts & self-defense
- Swimming, gymnastics & functional movement
- Rest, recovery & sleep hygiene
- Stress management, mindfulness & regulation practices (breathwork, journaling, yoga)
- Personal hygiene & upkeep
- Body ownership, substance literacy & informed help-seeking
- Sexual health & bodily autonomy
- First aid & emergency response (CPR, wilderness first aid)
- Goal-setting → top-10% age-group fitness targets
- Social–emotional learning
Evidence Examples
fitness-test logs, meal plans, belt-test videos, first-aid certs, wellbeing journal
How It Builds
Long-runway domain. Habits compound over years. Can't cram fitness at 17. Body ownership, mental health awareness, and healthy habits build from early childhood.
Written for adults: developmental signals are prompts to investigate, not diagnoses or verdicts.
Early Childhood (18 months – 5 years)
On track
- Developing gross motor skills (running, climbing, jumping)
- Developing fine motor skills (drawing, building, buttons)
- Basic self-care emerging (dressing, toileting, washing hands)
- Willing to try different foods
- Sleeps reasonably well with routine
- Enjoys physical play and movement
- Beginning body autonomy (can say no to unwanted touch)
- Learning names for body parts (accurate, not euphemisms)
Worth investigating
- Major motor delays
- Severe food restriction beyond picky eating
- Chronic sleep problems disrupting function
- Complete aversion to movement (may signal sensory issues—support, not blame)
- No sense of body autonomy
What's building: Motor foundation. Self-care habits. Body ownership. Positive relationship with movement and food.
Middle Childhood (6 – 9 years)
On track
- Competent in basic physical activities
- Can swim (water safety non-negotiable)
- Manages basic hygiene independently
- Eats reasonably balanced diet without constant battles
- Maintains regular physical activity
- Understands basic body functions
- Sleeps adequately without major intervention
- Beginning emotional regulation strategies
Worth investigating
- Cannot swim by age 8 despite opportunity
- Major hygiene resistance
- Complete cessation of physical activity
- Meltdowns remain at toddler intensity (often signals neurodivergence, anxiety, trauma, or sleep issues—support, not blame)
- Disordered eating patterns emerging
What's building: Physical competence. Hygiene habits. Emotional regulation basics. Positive body relationship.
Late Childhood / Early Adolescence (10 – 13 years)
On track
- Maintains regular physical activity—at least one thing they do
- Takes responsibility for own hygiene
- Makes reasonable food choices without obsession
- Has accurate puberty and reproductive knowledge
- Has age-appropriate, accurate information about substances
- Has stress management strategies that work
- Can identify and name emotions
- Sleeps adequately (even if bedtime is a battle)
- Resilient to body image pressure; doesn't tie worth to appearance
Worth investigating
- Complete physical inactivity
- Disordered eating (restriction, binging, purging)
- Severe body image distortion
- Self-harm or suicidal ideation
- Substance use beyond experimentation
- No emotional vocabulary or regulation
What's building: Fitness habits. Body knowledge. Emotional regulation. Healthy relationship with appearance.
Adolescence (14 – 18 years)
On track
- Takes responsibility for own body without nagging
- Feeds themselves well; cooks real meals
- Top-10% age-group fitness across strength/endurance/mobility (through habits, not obsession)
- Recognizes when something's wrong; takes appropriate action
- Handles basic first aid
- Understands substances; makes informed choices
- Manages stress without destructive coping
- Knows their mental health patterns; asks for support when needed
- Understands sex, reproduction, consent—no gaps, no shame
Worth investigating
- Cannot manage basic self-care
- Severe fitness deficits (sedentary, no physical capacity)
- Uses fitness destructively (over-exercise, punishment)
- Active eating disorder
- Unaddressed mental health issues significantly impairing daily functioning
- Destructive substance use
- Cannot identify when they need help
What's building: Body ownership without nagging. Cooking and fitness habits. Substance and mental-health literacy. Sexual health.