Every two years, UNLV graduate John Oceguera knew he would pack on the pounds in the first half of the year. That's when the Nevada assemblyman headed north for the biennial legislative session, and his health regimen headed south.
"You sit all day for 12 hours at a time. You don't get to work out or eat very well. It's a lot of long hours, lots of food and stress," said Oceguera, '98 MPA, '03 JD.
But he decided this year would be different. As a North Las Vegas firefighter, he had participated in a wellness program conducted by the Center for Health Promotion in UNLV's School of Public Health. And he'd seen The Biggest Loser, a reality show based on a weight-loss competition.
Why not combine both concepts for the Legislature? Oceguera turned to the team that showed the firefighters how to take care of themselves under stress — center director Chuck Regin and assistant director Jean Henry.
"John said, 'Can't you guys do something for us?' But we're educational, not medical," Regin said. "We expanded the concept to take more of a health promotion approach and address stress, fitness, and nutrition."
Positive Reinforcement
The result was the Nevada 100 Challenge. For eight weeks, participants logged in to a website to report how many healthy choices they made each day from a list of 100 "wellness actions." Each activity was assigned a score based on the strength of its health benefit. The list included the obvious (walking, eating balanced meals) and the unexpected (laughing and singing in the shower, two good stress relievers). Write-in activities often were accepted too; one participant got points for writing a letter to his out-ofstate fiancé because he said it relaxed him.
More than 200 people signed on as individuals or teams. Anyone who essentially made the Capitol his or her home during the session was eligible, including lobbyists, staff members, and members of the media.
Research Results
The challenge was more than a goodwill effort — it was research for Regin, Henry, and their multidisciplinary team, which included Greg Levitt from the College of Education. Although they are still compiling their findings, Regin said some answers to their research questions are already clear.
"We tried to see if an electronic tracking system can influence participation, and I think our conclusion is that it can," he said.
Team participants also had lower dropout rates than those who participated as individuals, Regin said, confirming that a support system is essential to any health regimen. Plus, it's more fun: One group calling themselves the Oinkers even made up a theme song and "oinked" at each other in the Capitol corridors.
Competitors tracked their progress in comparison to other people and teams via the website. And the program coordinators sent weekly updates about their collective accomplishments to keep motivation high.
Regin said after the challenge ended, the feedback was largely positive, and several people already asked the center do it again during the 2007 session.
"These people should be well complimented," Regin said. "They had a certain level of responsibility and stress that increased as the Legislature ran, and it became important enough for them to continue to do it. The fact that they were still able to maintain their enthusiasm was surprising."
Oceguera deemed the challenge a success too. "I didn't come back from the session with the 30 pounds I usually gain."
The researchers also want to branch out and continue their research with business, industry, and other organizations.
By the Numbers
Source: UNLV government relations office; Nevada 100 Challenge organizers
The Legislative Session
141
Bills tracked by the Nevada System
of Higher Education during the 2005 legislative session
497
Hearings on those bills, averaging 3.5 hearings per bill
$63.9 million
Capital improvement, repair, and maintenance funding
granted to UNLV by the 73rd Legislature
$9 million
Allocated for an addition to the Student Services Complex.
The project has been on the capital improvement funding request list
for nearly a decade.
Nevada 100 Challenge
206
Participants in the Nevada 100 Challenge
103,161
Total "wellness actions" reported during the eightweek program
2,500
Miles collectively walked by challenge participants, same as
the distance from Carson City to Miami
800
Pounds not gained due to participants making healthier choices
18 and 81
Ages of the youngest and oldest challenge participants
