Christ follower, husband, father, Assistant Professor, #RStats user, & physical activity epidemiologist focusing on Down syndrome and Alzheimer’s disease.
Roeland Park, KS
Joined June 2009
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- Following854
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Brian Helsel, PhD, MS, CSCS retweeted
Congratulations to the 2024 Paper of the Year: "Physical Activity Patterns in Adolescents and Adults with Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities" by Helsel et al.
Read the paper: brnw.ch/21wRRiu
Brian Helsel, PhD, MS, CSCS retweeted
DYK there are 28 evidence-based practices that have been shown to benefit those with autism? They include:
☑️ Modeling
☑️ Sensory integration
☑️ Visual supports
Learn about the 28 practices & how they can be incorporated into exercise programming: brnw.ch/21wOB8v
I’m excited to be on the team of investigators helping lead this funded initiative by the @NIH INCLUDE Project alongside others at @KUMedCenter. We care about our friends with Down syndrome and we are glad that NIH sees this research as a priority.
nichd.nih.gov/newsroom/news/…
Brian Helsel, PhD, MS, CSCS retweeted
🚨Exciting opportunity!! Tenure-track faculty opening (open rank) in Kinesiology at Indiana University Bloomington. We're looking for an expert to utilize our Bioenergetics & Environmental Stress Suite and Nutrition & Metabolic Clinical Research Lab!
indiana.peopleadmin.com/post…
Adults with Down syndrome face a higher risk of Alzheimer's disease. Our new study explores the link between physical function and dementia risk symptoms. Key findings: Lower physical function and ADLs may serve as early indicators of dementia risk. alz-journals.onlinelibrary.w…
I'm enjoying the flexibility of making consort diagrams in R and incorporating them into reports using Graphviz. I'm working on an R package using a similar approach as DiagrammeR to make it easier to build these diagrams within an R script.
I'm excited to share our latest study on physical activity and sedentary time in individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities. This research offers insights into daily and seasonal physical activity patterns... (1/3)
journals.lww.com/acsm-esm/fu…
and highlights the need for targeted physical activity promotion. We examined physical activity and sedentary time of 330 persons with intellectual and developmental disabilities across various age groups (10–70 years) using data from portable accelerometers. We found... (2/3)
New publication! We found that an 18-month exercise intervention improved physical activity, motor skills, and strength in adolescents with intellectual and developmental disabilities. Parental involvement had no impact on these outcomes.
pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/3896…
It was great walking around campus at my alma mater again. I can’t even remember the last time I was on the Grand Valley State University campus as it’s been 12 years since attending and 10 years since moving from Michigan.
Brian Helsel, PhD, MS, CSCS retweeted
The Last Ride: One Dad's Essay on 640+ Bike Rides to School & Why It Meant Everything
Yeah, I lost it. I kinda thought I might, but as I biked with my son on his last day of elementary school and our last day ever of me biking with him...
The dad emotions hit me hard, which we'll get to...
By my count we've covered about 2,400 miles together these last four years of biking to school... That's an entire trip across country...
The first three years I biked with both my son and my daughter, but she's moved up to middle and bikes with her friends...
It's the natural progression of parenthood and childhood and I'd be 100% lying if I said every day was great...
Most were fine... Some were pleasant... Some with tantrums and arguments and kids refusing to slow down or speed up were frustrating as hell...
My daughter went about 3 weeks straight back in 3rd grade with the sole mission of going way too fast for my son (then in 2nd) to keep up on his little bike... Which would leave me playing dad in the middle, yelling ahead to her to slow down and behind to him to relax...
Good times...
But most mornings were ordinary and by that I mean exceptional... The stuff that day-to-day life is made of with little kids that flies by...
We talked about space and insects and state capitols... We discussed best school lunches and dinosaurs and ice cream flavors... We debated Moana vs. Ariel and Macho Man vs. John Cena... We covered everything...
2nd grade, 3rd grade, 4th grade, 5th grade...
It is the greatest privilege of dad life to be able to spend this uninterrupted time with my kids, just us, biking to school in the sun and fresh air for 25 minutes....
No screens. No distractions. Nobody else...
Then my daughter moved up and this year it was just me and my boy. 10 at the start of the year, 11 now...
And he's a little dude through and through... football, hoops, WWE, music, action movies...
We've discussed history and science and the Olympics and the best decades... I've imparted my wisdom on everything from Michael Crichton books to Terminator 2 to LL Cool J to Bo Jackson highlights...
The kid could slide into the early 90s and not miss a bit haha...
And damn will I miss our daily morning hang time. About sports. About life. About school and friends...
And sure, it's just a bike ride. We have a million things we do together and I'm going to replace the ride with nightly dog walks with me so we still have our time...
But this is the end of a dad era...
And yes, when he walked over to the bike rack today, and he did his last, goofy, LA Knight "YEAH!" pointing goodbye (that I do back, it's our thing)...
I lost it... waterworks... a blubbering mess... like i said, i kinda knew i would... but i was cool with it. earned it in a way. these 2,400 miles have been glorious and i'll remember them collectively for the rest of my life.
The lesson:
Spend daily time with your kids outside, away from screens and friends and distractions. Just you. Find a thing... a bike ride... a walk... a catch... whatever...
But do it and do it most days...
It's time spent that you will never regret.
If you're a dad reading this column, please share it and follow me @Jon_Finkel for more writing like this.
Brian Helsel, PhD, MS, CSCS retweeted
Our new publication in @BrainComms is out! It highlights a pathway linking higher pulse pressure to dementia in adults with Down syndrome. Super thankful to @AdamMBrickman and @mike_yassa for their mentorship!
A thread 🧵..
link:
academic.oup.com/braincomms/…
I’m excited to have this manuscript published in the @JMPBjournal and @Human_Kinetics. Check out our open-access article and our translation of the @actigraph count algorithm at github.com/bhelsel/agcounts. The agcounts R package is also available on CRAN. @Lauren_Ptomey @evidoni5
agcounts: an R package to calculate ActiGraph activity counts from raw accelerations is now available!
Read about its development in this new #openaccess technical note.
Article available 👉 doi.org/10.1123/jmpb.2023-00…
@KUALZ
#PhysicalActivity #Research #accelerometry
RDAD-KC isn't just changing lives for Alzheimer's patients—it's also helping individuals with intellectual disabilities & caregivers. Reduced behavioral symptoms, increased physical activity, & less distress show promise for a brighter future!
onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/…
It was great to meet and network with other NIH INCLUDE investigators to discuss the accomplishments of NIH INCLUDE over the past 5 years and plans for the future. The breakout sessions and talks were informative, engaging, and motivating!
We heard empowering stories from self-advocates about the critical need for Down syndrome research and many of us were able to present during the meeting. I presented on 24-hour movement and cognitive function in adults with Down syndrome participating in the @abc_ds_ study.
@Lauren_Ptomey presented her top 5 tips for clinical trial readiness in Down syndrome research which included strengthening partnerships with organizations like @DSGKC and @sokansas and creating a community advisory board.
