A state of high anxiety can have an impact on daily living. For people with learning disabilities, anxiety can be common and persistent anxiety can significantly affect people’s quality of life. There is a literature on effects of exercise on reducing anxiety, but the researchers in this study point out that there has been little [read the full story…]
The London 2012 Paralympic Games open today and it is estimated that the cumulative television audience of the Paralympics across the 10 days of competition will tally a record four billion worldwide. Following the success of Team GB in the Olympic Games the excitement and interest has risen across the UK and people are looking [read the full story…]
We have posted elsewhere on this blog about the issue of overweight and obesity in people with learning disabilities, with the evidence about the extent of this problem building with every new study. The researchers in the study however, were looking at a particular approach to dealing with the issue through a programme of peer-guided [read the full story…]
Many studies have shown that people with learning disabilities are at risk of overweight and obesity, The authors of this study were interested in the potential impact of beliefs, attitudes and behaviours of parents of adolescents with learning disabilities on the body mass index (BMI) of the adolescents and the parents. They also wanted to [read the full story…]
The authors of this study were interested to explore the barriers that might exist to enabling children with Down syndrome to do the recommended amount of daily physical activity. They were also interested to explore what might be facilitators to physical activity for this group. They carried out in-depth interviews with 20 parents (16 mothers, [read the full story…]
Regular physical activity is a cornerstone of good health and previous studies have shown that many people with learning disabilities do not engage in such activity. This systematic review set out to critically assess the evidence on the effectiveness of physical activity interventions for adults with learning disabilities. The authors found eleven clinical studies that [read the full story…]
