Former Resident's PE Classes Exercising Minds & Bodies Simultaneously

LAKE WORTH, FL - Friday, September 04, 2009 - Boynton Beach Community High School & Panther Run Elementary School can now exercise their bodies and brains at the same time.

Boynton Beach Community High School & Panther Run Elementary School are trying out the new NeuroActive Bike, also known as the "Brain Bike," that combines a cardio workout with brain-stimulating exercises. The schools are two of three schools in the country to be utilizing this cutting edge program for their students.

"It's like getting a morning coffee ... you hop on the bike for a few minutes and you train your cardio, train your brain and it makes you more in the mood for learning new skills," said Stephane Bergeron, president of Brain Center America.

Doctors with the group first developed the brain exercise software, then added it to a stationary bicycle. It made its way to Boyton Beach Community High School & Panther Run Elementary School through Christopher J. Cain, Physical Education teacher at Panther Run Elementary School, Michele Monahan, Physical Education teacher at Boynton Beach Community High School and Phil Lawler, director of outreach and training for PE4life.

Boynton Beach Community High School & Panther Run Elementary School students tested the new equipment, pedaling away on a stationary bike while solving math problems, matching patterns and testing their memory of names and faces all on a computer screen attached to the bike.

The program can help with 16 cognitive functions such as focus, memory, word skills, processing speed and arithmetic - and can be adjusted to help riders of almost any age. Among other possibilities, developers say the brain exercises can help business people stay on top of their game and riders of any age combat the onset of Alzheimer's disease.

As the biker gets more answers correct, the questions get progressively harder.

"What studies have shown in medicine is your brain behaves like a muscle," Bergeron said. "The more you flex your brain, the more you exercise it, the bigger it gets, the stronger it grows and it really changes physiologically."

He said recent research shows people can generate new brain cells and improve connectivity in the brain. The NeuroActive programs can increase brain function by 20 percent, he says, the same amount the average adult loses over a 10-year period.

"It's never too late to start but the sooner you start training your brain the better it is, the better it functions and the healthier it is," Bergeron said.

In addition to being programmed into the bike's computer, software also is available for the typical home or office computer and even iPhones.

But experts say performing these exercises will be even more productive on the bike.

"If you get blood flow to the brain, oxygen to the brain ... it's going to function much better," Cain said.

Cain and Monahan hope the new bike will have positive results for students. Boynton Beach Community High School & Panther Run Elementary School teachers will experiment to determine how best to fit it into the curriculum.

"It's going to really impact schools in the future and we're fortunate we get to be at the cutting edge of it," Cain said.

For more information on the NeuroActive Bike, please contact C.J Cain at christopher.cain@palmbeach.k12.fl.us or Michele Monahan at monaham@palmbeach.k12.fl.us or visit www.NeuroActiveProgram.com