El efecto de la actividad física sobre el bienestar y la conducta en personas mayores con discapacidad intelectual

Abstract

Increased life expectancy also affects the population of people with intellectual disabilities; to ensure a healthy aging process, support systems must be modified to meet new needs associated with aging. Therefore, it is important to know the general characteristics of this population. The aim of our research was to determine whether elder people make greater daily physical activity (measured by a general mobility index which includes both working and leisure activities) are benefited from the development of this physical activity. Our participants were 81 people with intellectual disabilities, aged between 34 and 64 years, who were living in a residential facility. The study results show that, in general terms and controlling variables such as age and presence of psychiatric illness, a higher level of physical activity were significantly associated with the presence of smaller amount and intensity of physical illness, a lower incidence of behavioral problems, and a lower consumption of drugs. Our goal is to continue taking data over the same population, with the aim of establishing longitudinal comparisons as well as introducing new analysis of variables such as measures of the quality of life of elder people with intellectual disabilities.