It is important to keep information about your health and details of people who help you with your health care, such as doctors, dentists and opticians. You could use this personal health template to keep this information in.

We also have lots of resources to help support you to look after your physical health. You could also visit easy health for easy-read leaflets on staying healthy.

Be active

To stay healthy or to improve your health, you need to do two types of physical activity each week: 

• aerobic  - to raise your heart rate and make you breathe faster
• muscle strengthening - increasing how much work your muscles can do

The amount of physical activity you need to do depends on your age. Guidelines can be found on NHS Choices. 

Healthy eating

Eating too much, too little or too many unhealthy (fatty or sugary) foods can be bad for your health and increase the chance of becoming ill. It can also be bad for your confidence. For information on good foods, how much you should weigh and understanding food labels, visit NHS Choices

Stress and anxiety

For most of us, there are times in our lives when there is too much happening and we feel stressed or anxious and worried and might find it difficult to cope.

Unfortunately, trying to build up your independence may put you in a situation where these feelings can start to make it difficult to do the things you would like to do. It is important to look after your emotional wellbeing as it can effect your physical health too.  

Annual health check

If you have a learning disability it is important to get your health checked at least once a year (this is called annually), otherwise you might miss the early signs of some illnesses. You can ask your General Practitioner (GP) or doctor if you can have an annual health check.