People with intellectual disabilities show significantly lower levels of physical activity than the general population in respect to all consequences for health. A positive effect of physical activity on health preservation has been proven, but interventions for physical activity in everyday life seem to be rare for people with intellectual…

Background: Intellectually disabled individuals have been observed to lead sedentary lifestyles resulting in poor health. Physical fitness has been positively correlated to better health outcomes with small changes in fitness translating to major health changes among unfit older adults with intellectual disability. However, there is currently no…

Background: Canadian 24-h movement guidelines recommend that adults achieve 150 min per week of moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (MVPA), 7-9 h of sleep per night and spend no more than 8-h per day sedentary to optimise health and wellbeing. Method: Using a cross-sectional survey of 131 family caregivers of adults with intellectual and…

Exercise is necessary for healthy living, yet individuals with intellectual disability (ID) remain strikingly inactive compared with nondisabled peers. To improve this outcome, individuals with ID can exercise independently by self-instructing. Self-instruction is considered a pivotal skill once it generalizes to untrained stimuli. This study used…

Children with intellectual disabilities (ID) are less likely to meet physical activity (PA) guidelines and have higher tendencies towards sedentary behaviors. Considering a large proportion of a child's day is spent at school, this setting provides a promising environment for increasing PA levels. Staff often significantly impact the success of PA…

Background: The purpose of this study was to investigate the patterns of objectively measured sedentary behaviour in adults with intellectual disabilities. Methods: Baseline accelerometer data were pooled from two randomized controlled trials of lifestyle behaviour change programmes for adults with intellectual disabilities. Patterns of sedentary…

Background: Adults with intellectual disabilities are reported to be highly inactive, with research required to understand contributory factors. This systematic review aimed to investigate gender differences in physical activity (PA) and sedentary behaviour (SB) in adults with intellectual disabilities. Methods: This systematic review was reported…

Adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD) are at a greater risk of developing high cholesterol and cardiovascular disease. We examined whether physical inactivity, obesity, and diabetes were predictive of reported high cholesterol and whether there were any mediating effects of diabetes on the relationship between obesity and…

Background: People with intellectual disabilities remain at high risk of developing type 2 diabetes (T2D) due to lifestyle-associated risk factors. Educational programmes have been adapted for people with intellectual disabilities targeting ongoing T2D self-management. However, there are no adapted programmes which aim to prevent T2D through…

Background: In the general population, the transition from adolescence to adulthood has been identified as a "high-risk" period for weight gain. There has been no research examining health behaviours over this transition in adults with intellectual disabilities. Methods/design: The feasibility of recruitment, retention and relevant…

People with intellectual disability (ID) are reported as a sedentary population with increased risks of poor health due to an inactive and sedentary lifestyle. As the benefits of physical activity are acknowledged, measuring physical activity accurately is important to help identify reasons for low and high physical activity in order to assist and…

This study evaluates a multifactorial school-based intervention with the aim of decreasing cardiometabolic risk factors by means of a healthy lifestyle, primarily with daily physical activity and healthy food during school hours, at an upper secondary school for students with intellectual disabilities. The outcome is measured in terms of…