Jamestown (CSi) As Jamestown Regional Medical Center gears up to offer the Jamestown community another round of the annual New Year, New You community wellness challenge, we would like to share the outstanding results from our 2015 NYNY challenge.

kjellandcitymatterJRMC Cardiopulmonary Rehab Manager, Emily Hoffman says, an impressive 41% were first-time participants with 94% planning to participate in future NYNY events. Each of the 15 healthy lifestyle behaviors discussed showed improvement from the pre-survey data to the post-survey data. 52% of the participants had a weight loss goal and a whopping 445.4 pounds were lost over the 8 week challenge! It was identified that busy work schedules (62.04%) and time demands of family members (42.34%) are the top obstacles to maintaining a healthier lifestyle.

In the 2015 challenge, 83% were aware of a healthy blood pressure, 73% were aware of a healthy cholesterol reading, and 60% were aware of a healthy blood glucose reading. Less than 30% of participants were aware of an appropriate BMI and less than 60% were aware of the minimum physical activity recommendations for the general public. On a positive note, the percent of participants who reached the minimum physical activity recommendation increased from 34% pre-challenge to 72% post-challenge.

Many other great comparison improvements were identified through the challenge’s surveys. JRMC is very pleased with participant successes:

  • General health rating of Very Good or Excellent increased from 34% to 55%
  • Consumption of 3 or more fruit servings increased from 37% to 73%
  • Consumption of 3 or more vegetable servings increased from 40% to 71%
  • Outside the home meal preparation/consumption decreased from 68% to 57%
  • Experience of regular tension decreased from 40% to 20%
  • Experience of sleeplessness decreased from 45% to 27%
  • Increase from 47% to 65% in respondents choosing Rarely or Never in answer to feeling overwhelmed or unable to cope with the pace of life

JRMC invites all community members to participate in our 2016 challenge, which starts Monday January 11th, 2016 and runs through Sunday, March 6th. We will focus on interpersonal wellness, social wellness, and emotional wellness. Enhancement of your personal wellness journey in these areas assists with optimism, stress management, improved sleep, improved energy levels, self-worth, and life purpose. Weekly focuses will include topics such as quality time, gratitude, affirmations, kindness, relaxation, generosity.

Past mainstays of the annual NYNY challenge will be the underlying drivers of daily lifestyle choices to include physical activity, heart healthy nutrition, sleep, and hydration. We will return to highlighting an aspect of the American Heart Association’s Life’s Simple 7 and the importance of knowing your health numbers.

Registration will be open December 1st through the first week of the 2016 New Year, New You challenge. Please visit

www.jrmcnd.com/nyny for details. Join us in becoming the healthy difference.