Effect of yoga practices on psycho-motor abilities among intellectually disabled children

Mechanisms Linking Physical Activity With Mental Health in Children and Adolescents With Neurodevelopmental Disorders: A Systematic Review

INTRODUCTION

Physical activity (PA) is a promising way to improve mental health in children and adolescents with neurodevelopmental disorders (NDDs). However, the underlying mechanisms remain unclear. The current review aimed to explore the potential neurobiological, psychosocial, and behavioral mechanisms between PA interventions and mental health in children and adolescents with NDDs.

METHODS

Web of Science, PsycINFO, SPORTDiscus, MEDLINE, CINAHL, and ERIC were searched from inception to June 2023. Randomized controlled trials/quasi-experimental designs applying PA interventions and reporting at least one mental health outcome and at least one potential mechanism in children and adolescents with NDDs were included. The best evidence synthesis rating system was adopted to determine the strength and consistency of potential mechanisms and was performed in 2024.

RESULTS

In total, 45 studies were included, 29 of which were randomized controlled trials and 16 were quasi-experimental, with a total of 1,751 participants. According to the best evidence synthesis rating system, neurobiological (theta activity and P3 amplitude), psychosocial (social skills and social participation), and behavioral (motor skills and sleep) mechanisms were the frequently examined and consistent mechanisms through which PA affected mental health in children and adolescents with NDDs. However, evidence regarding P3 latency, beta activity, and physical self-concept was insufficient.

DISCUSSION

Future PA interventions could consider neurobiological (theta activity and P3 amplitude), psychosocial (social skills and social participation), and behavioral (motor skills and sleep) mechanisms. Alternatively, PA can be developed as an adjunctive approach with interventions that specifically focus on these mechanisms to enhance mental health in children and adolescents with NDDs.

Physical Activity and Mental Health in Children and Adolescents With Neurodevelopmental Disorders: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

Importance

Children and adolescents with neurodevelopmental disorders experience mental health issues and are encouraged to be brought together in real-life treatment. However, physical activity, which is a promising method for boosting mental health, has only been examined in children and adolescents with certain types of neurodevelopmental disorders.

Objective

To examine the association of physical activity interventions with mental health (ie, cognitive function, psychological well-being, internalizing, and externalizing problems) in children and adolescents with neurodevelopmental disorders and to identify possible moderators.

Data Sources

Studies were searched from inception to May 2023 through Web of Science, PsycINFO, SPORTDiscus, MEDLINE, CINAHL, and ERIC.

Study Selection

Randomized clinical trials or nonrandomized designs applying physical activity interventions and reporting at least 1 mental health outcome in children and adolescents aged 5 to 17 years with neurodevelopmental disorders were included. Two independent reviewers selected and assessed the studies.

Data Extraction and Synthesis

Random multilevel meta-analysis using Hedges g was performed. Data extraction and risk-of-bias assessment were conducted by multiple reviewers. Heterogeneity, publication bias, sensitivity analysis, and moderator analysis were examined to substantiate the results.

Main Outcomes and Measures

The main outcomes were mental health related to cognitive function, psychological well-being, internalizing, or externalizing problems measured by neurocognitive tasks or subjective questionnaires.

Results

A total of 76 studies involving 3007 participants were included in systematic review, 59 of which were used for meta-analysis. The findings indicated that physical activity interventions were associated with significant benefits for overall mental health (g, 0.67; 95% CI, 0.50-0.85), cognitive function (g, 0.74; 95% CI, 0.53-0.95), psychological well-being (g, 0.56; 95% CI, 0.16-0.96), internalizing (g, 0.72; 95% CI, 0.34-1.10), and externalizing problems (g, 0.58; 95% CI, 0.28-0.89). Moderators were also identified: frequency, total sessions, and total duration for overall mental health; total sessions, and total duration for cognitive function; session duration and frequency for psychological well-being; physical activity type for internalizing problems; and session duration for externalizing problems. Moderator analyses showed that type of neurodevelopmental disorder did not modify the associations between physical activity and overall mental health or its subgroups.

Conclusions and Relevance

The findings in this study suggest that children and adolescents with different types of neurodevelopmental disorders may be grouped together when performing physical activity interventions, which were confirmed to be beneficial to overall mental health and its subgroups in this new diagnostic population, but that physical activity interventions should be tailored when targeting different mental health domains.

A Remotely Delivered Yoga Intervention for Adolescents with Autism Spectrum Disorder: Feasibility and Effectiveness for Improving Skills Related to Physical Activity

This study evaluated the feasibility of remotely delivered yoga for improving four physical activity-related skills: motor skills, strength, balance, and flexibility in adolescents with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Nineteen of 20 participants enrolled (age 13.2 ± 2.2 years; 60% male) completed the 12-week intervention and attended 83% of the scheduled yoga sessions. Overall, physical activity-related skills improved pre to post intervention (Φ = 0.90, p = 0.005, 95% CI 0.72-1.0). Specifically, significant increases in leg strength (12.5%, p = 0.039), flexibility (40.3%, p = 0.008), and dynamic balance on the right (11.1%, p = 0.001) and left legs (8.1%, p = 0.003) were observed across 12 weeks. These results demonstrate the feasibility and potential effectiveness of yoga to improve physical activity-related skills in adolescents with ASD.

Dyadic Predictors of Willing to Engage in Physical Activity and Emotional Eating in Children and Adolescents with Mild and Moderate Intellectual Disability

Intellectual disability is associated with increased risk for childhood obesity, and the factors most often associated with this risk are incorrect eating behavior and insufficient amount and intensity of physical activity. As is well known, there area whole range of factors determining lifestyle, but many currently available reports in this field refer to the functioning of children without a diagnosis of intellectual disability, and, as we know, due to numerous individual and environmental barriers, children with ID may function differently in this context than their peers. Therefore, we examined the relationships between the selected variables and divided them into two models: (1) first regression model: child's willingness to engage in physical activity (dependent variable), child's physical limitations related to disabilities and/or comorbidities, child's independence, parents' willingness to engage in physical activity, child's body dissatisfaction (independent variables/predictors); (2) second regression model: child's emotional eating (dependent variable), child's coping with emotions, parents' attitudes, beliefs, and practices about child feeding (restriction and pressure to eat), parents' emotional eating, parents' happiness (independent variables/predictors). A group of 503 parents (of children and adolescents with mild and moderate intellectual disability) completed: the Contour Drawing Rating Scale, the Child Feeding Questionnaire, the Emotional Overeating Questionnaire, the Scale of Experiencing Happiness, and the supplementary survey. Our results allow partial confirmation of the hypotheses related to both of these models: (1) model I: the relationships between the child's willingness to engage in physical activity and all predictors are significant, but the direction of the relationship between the dependent variable and one of the predictors-body dissatisfaction-is opposite to the assumed one (negative relationship); (2) model II: the relationships between the child's emotional eating and almost all predictors are significant, except for the relationship between the dependent variable and pressure to eat. In conclusion, (to the authors' knowledge) this study is the first to assess dyadic predictors of willingness to engage in physical activity and emotional eating in children and adolescents with mild and moderate intellectual disability. It allows for a better understanding of the attitudes, beliefs, and experiences of children with intellectual disabilities and their parents, which gives the opportunity (taking into account factors from both individuals from the child-parent dyad) to better design strategies to support pro-health behaviors in children and adolescents from this group (which may improve the effectiveness of overweight prevention and obesity). These findings emphasize how important it is to consider the dynamic of the child-parent dyad when considering how parenting contributes to a child's willingness to engage in physical activity, as well as thatchild's emotional eating.

The effect of a motor intervention programme for learners identified with moderate to severe intellectual disabilities

Background

Intellectual disabilities (ID) cause problems in intellectual and adaptive functioning which negatively affect motor proficiency levels.

Aim

This study investigates the impact of a motor intervention programme on the motor proficiency levels of learners identified with moderate to severe ID.

Method

A quasi-experimental design was used to recruit participants which included 46 learners aged 15–17 years, identified with moderate to severe ID, selected from a South African special school. Participants were randomly divided into two groups. The 15 experimental learners received a 30-minute motor intervention programme, 3 times a week for a period of 6 weeks, whereas the 23 control learners continued with their normal physical education classes. Groups were assessed using the Bruininks-Oseretsky Test of Motor Proficiency, second edition (BOT-2) Brief Form.

Results

The motor intervention programme significantly improved the total scores (p = 0.0380) and the overall motor proficiency levels (p = 0.0447) of the experimental group.

Conclusions

This study reveals evidence that a motor intervention programme can be used as an effective means to improve the motor proficiency levels of learners with moderate to severe ID.

Implications

A motor intervention should be implemented as soon as possible to enhance the motor proficiency levels of these learners.

Physical activity and mental health in children and adolescents with intellectual disabilities: a meta-analysis using the RE-AIM framework

BACKGROUND

Children and adolescents with intellectual disabilities (IDs) tend to have lower levels of physical activity and poorer mental health than their typically developing peers. Studies on the effects of physical activity on the mental health of children with IDs using the Reach, Effectiveness, Adoption, Implementation, and Maintenance (RE-AIM) framework are scarce.

METHODS

A systematic literature review using six databases (CINAHL, Eric, PsycINFO, PubMed, SPORTDiscus, and Web of Science) was conducted from January 2000 to September 2021. Studies reporting at least one physical activity intervention and mental health outcome in children and adolescents with IDs aged between 5 and 17 years were included in the meta-analysis. Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis guideline, Comprehensive Meta-Analysis, and the RE-AIM framework were utilized.

RESULTS

A total of 15 studies that met the inclusion criteria were included in the meta-analysis. The effects of physical activity on mental health in children and adolescents with IDs were significant and large (Hedges' g = 0.897, p < 0.01), with medium effects on psychological health (Hedges' g = 0.542, p < 0.01) and large effects on cognitive function (Hedges' g = 1.236, p < 0.01). Randomized controlled trial (RCT) design and intervention components (> 120 minutes per week, therapeutic, and aerobic exercise) demonstrated the strongest effects. Moreover, study background (publication year, study location, and sample size), participant characteristics (age and sex), and Maintenance (RE-AIM framework) moderated the effects of physical activity on mental health. Based on the RE-AIM framework, there were higher proportions in the dimensions of Reach and Effectiveness than Adoption, Implementation, and Maintenance.

CONCLUSIONS

Physical activity appears to have positive effects on mental health, including psychological health and cognitive function, in children and adolescents with IDs. Physical activity interventions using the RE-AIM framework are recommended to assess short- and long-term impacts and translate scientific evidence into practice.

TRIAL REGISTRATION

The protocol for this meta-analysis was registered with PROSPERO ( CRD42021256543 ).

Effects of a 12-Weeks Yoga Intervention on Motor and Cognitive Abilities of Preschool Children

Since early childhood is regarded as an important period of motor and cognitive development, understanding the effects of physical activity on motor abilites and cognitive development in preschool children has major public health implications. This study investigates the effects of a 12 weeks' yoga intervention program on motor and cognitive abilities in preschool children. Preschool children (n = 45; age 5-6 years) attending regular preschool programs were non-randomly assigned to yoga intervention (n = 23; 30 min sessions three times per week) or a control group (n = 22; no additional organized physical activity program). Exercise training for the intervention group included yoga program. Motor abilities (BOT-2 subtests: fine motor integration, manual dexterity, balance and bilateral coordination), and cognitive abilities (School Maturity Test subtests: visual memory, stacking cubes and codes) were assessed before and after the intervention period in both groups. Data were analyzed using repeated-measures ANOVA. Participants in the intervention group improved fine motor integration (p = 0.022), fine motor skills in general (0.029), bilateral coordination (0.000), balance (0.000), and body coordination (0.000). Preschool children's participation in the preschool yoga intervention significantly improved their motor abilities, but not their cognitive abilities.

Comparison of Yoga versus Physical Exercise on Executive Function, Attention, and Working Memory in Adolescent Schoolchildren: A Randomized Controlled Trial

Purpose:

Executive function, attention, and memory are an important indicator of cognitive health in children. In this study, we analyze the effect of yoga and physical exercise on executive functioning, attention, and memory.

Methods:

In this prospective two-armed randomized controlled trial, around 802 students from ten schools across four districts were randomized to receive daily 1 h yoga training (n = 411) or physical exercise (n = 391) for 2 months. Executive function, attention, and memory were studied using Trail Making Test (TMT). Yoga (n = 377) and physical exercise (n = 371) students contributed data to the analyses. The data were analyzed using intention-to-treat approach using Student's t-test.

Results:

There was a significant increase in numerical TMT (TMTN) values within yoga (t = −2.17; P < 0.03) and physical activity (PA) (t = −3.37; P < 0.001) groups following interventional period. However, there was no significant change in TMTN between yoga and PA groups (t = 0.44; P = 0.66). There was a significant increase in alphabetical TMT (TMTA) values within yoga (t = 6.21; P < 0.00) and PA groups (t = 1.19; P < 0.234) following interventional period. However, there was no significant change in TMTA between yoga and PA groups (t = 3.46; P = 0.001).

Conclusion:

The results suggest that yoga improves executive function, attention, and working memory as effectively as physical exercise intervention in adolescent schoolchildren.