Cybercycling for Cognitive Health

Union College, New York

Status: Completed

Conditions: Cognitive Ability, General

Treatments: Behavioral: Cybercycling; Behavioral: Traditional exercise

Study type: Interventional

Funder types: Other

Identifiers

NCT01167400

HS1259

64449 (Other Grant/Funding Number)

Details and patient eligibility

About

Exercise has been linked to cognitive health, but few older adults exercise at recommended levels. Cybercycling may provide additional cognitive benefits due to increased motivation to ride the interactive 3D tours. Participants will be randomly assigned to three months of either cybercycling or traditional stationary biking; and they will complete comprehensive evaluations before and after exercise. Older adults are expected to show significant neuropsychological, physiological and behavioral gains.

Full description

The purpose of this study is to test the following hypotheses: (1) stationary cycling with virtual reality tours ("cybercyle") will enhance executive function and clinical status more than traditional exercise; (2) exercise effort will explain improvement; and (3) brain-derived neurotrophic growth factor (BDNF) will increase.

Enrollment: 63 patients

Sex: All

Ages: 50+ years old

Volunteers: Accepts Healthy Volunteers

Inclusion criteria

• age 50+
• able to participate in cycling
• physician permission

Exclusion criteria

• unstable heart condition
• physician denial
• neurological condition

Trial design

Primary purpose: Prevention

Allocation: Randomized

Interventional model: Parallel Assignment

Masking: None (Open label)

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63 participants in 2 patient groups

Cybercycling

Experimental group

Description:

cybercycling for 3 months

Treatment:

Behavioral: Cybercycling

Traditional Stationary Biking

Active Comparator group

Description:

Traditional exercise on a stationary bike for 3 months.

Treatment:

Behavioral: Traditional exercise