Show of hands: who participated in Wellness Week last week? Looks like it had an OK turnout.

Now how many of you even knew it existed and was going on last week? Perhaps you might have been too busy to attend. Don’t worry, we’re not criticizing you. We think Wellness Week should be much longer than just a week.

The oft-cliche’d adage is true: fitness is a journey, not a destination. To get fit and maintain fitness and wellness, one must practice eating well, exercising and pursuing other healthy habits all the time.

Restricting this event to a week-long and weakly publicized initiative may get people thinking about wellness for a week, and perhaps even practicing healthy habits for a week or two after. But to really make this effective and to drive the message home, Wellness Week should be a constant initiative.

While “Wellness Constant” may not sound as catchy as its alliterative counterpart, it would be a better fit for the message Wellness Week seeks to impart. Wellness programs and activities would be going on all the time at the Money Student Recreation and Wellness Center and other areas around campus.

With more time they could also go deeper than simply the “eat well, workout” message and include other aspects of wellness throughout the semester. They could give diet counseling to students, instead of just setting up some displays in the Bean. They could even include activities on mental wellness: a wellness aspect that is easily overlooked.

It would also be a great opportunity to spread the word about the Rec Center’s classes, many of which are readily available to students, but again, not very well known. By keeping the students in mind, the focus should be on how to maintain healthy habits when you have a schedule that allows for little time outside of homework and classes.

We like the idea of Wellness Week. In addition to the required Lifetime Wellness classes and physical education credits, it helps students think just a little bit more about their bodies and how to take better care of them.

But in order to maximize its effectiveness and reach among students, as well as live up to the pivotal adage of lifetime wellness, the initiative should be constantly occurring not just one week. Wellness on ACU’s campus should be encouraged all school year long.