Perception of students on the importance of recreation and leisure to healthful living

Introduction

Leisure and recreation is an important aspect of living that can provide opportunities for skill development, enhanced quality of life, community and social engagement, identity development, and healthy living (Thomas, 2010). Despite its inherent benefits, it is often an area that remains unaddressed by very many people.

According to Bruce (2005), recreation is an activity of leisure which is to do something in most cases for enjoyment, amusement, or pleasure and are considered to be “fun”. He further stated that recreation and leisure is an essential part of human life and finds many different forms which are shaped naturally by individual interests but also by the surrounding social construction. Recreational and leisure activities can be communal or solitary, active or passive, outdoors or indoors, etc. A list of typical activities could be almost endless including most human activities, a few examples being reading, playing or listening to music, watching movies or television (TV), gardening, hunting, hobbies, sports, studies, travel, etc.

In the opinion of McLean, Hurd and Roger (2005), taking part in recreational and leisure activities, particularly outdoors, can improve an individual’s physical wellness. In fact, people who frequently take advantage of recreational and leisure activities have fewer medical problems, lower body mass indexes and lower systolic blood pressures than those who do not. Leisure and recreational activities have been identified to be associated to mental wellness which is an important part of your overall health and can impact on the physical well-being of an individual.

Claudia (2013) stated that participating in leisure and recreational activities can help an individual to better manage stress and reduce depression. Leisure provides an individual with the chance to find balance in life and also enables the individual to relieve stress which is an important consideration when one feels overwhelmed by obligations. Taking part in leisure and recreational activities as a family is also beneficial for your kids because this could help them to model healthy ways to handle stress and emotions.

Definition of leisure

According to Brightbill (2010), leisure is time free from obligations, work (paid and unpaid), and tasks required for existing (sleeping, eating). Leisure can also be viewed as activities that people engage in during their free time—activities that are not work oriented or that do not involve life maintenance tasks such as housecleaning or sleeping.

Leisure as activity encompasses the activities that we engage in for reasons as varied as relaxation, competition, or growth and may include reading for pleasure, meditating, painting, and participating in sports (Joffre, 2006). This definition gives no heed to how a person feels while doing the activity; it simply states that certain activities qualify as leisure because they take place during time away from work and are not engaged in for existence. However, as has been argued by many, it is extremely difficult to come up with a list of activities that everyone agrees represents leisure—to some an activity might be a leisure activity and to others it might not necessarily be a leisure activity. Therefore, with this definition the line between work and leisure is not clear in that what is leisure to some may be work to others and vice versa.

Unlike the definitions of leisure as time or activity, Max (2005) defined leisure as state of mind is much more subjective in that it considers the individual’s perception of an activity. Concepts such as perceived freedom, intrinsic motivation, perceived competence, and positive affect are critical to determining whether an experience is leisure or not leisure.

Definition of recreation

Allan (2013) defined recreation is an activity that people engage in during their free time, that people enjoy, and that people recognize as having socially redeeming values. Unlike leisure, recreation has a connotation of being morally acceptable not just to the individual but also to society as a whole, and thus we program for those activities within that context. While recreation activities can take many forms, they must contribute to society in a way that society deems acceptable. This means that activities deemed socially acceptable for recreation can change over time.

Examples of recreational activities are endless and include sports, music, games, travel, reading, arts and crafts, and dance. The specific activity performed is less important than the reason for performing the activity, which is the outcome. For most the overarching desired outcome is recreation or restoration. Participants hope that their recreation pursuits can help them to balance their lives and refresh themselves from their work as well as other mandated activities such as housecleaning, child rearing, and so on (Yukic, 2010).

Kraus (2009) sees recreation as a social instrument because of its contribution to society. That is, professionals have long used recreation programs and services to produce socially desirable outcomes, such as the wise use of free time, physical fitness, and positive youth development. The organized development of recreation programs to meet a variety of physical, psychological, and social needs has led to recreation playing a role as a social instrument for well-being and, in some cases, change. This role has been the impetus for the development of many recreation providers from municipalities to nonprofits such as the Young Men Christian Association (YMCA), Young Women Christian Association (YWCA), Boy Scouts of Nigeria, Girl Scouts of the Nigeria, etc. There are also for-profit agencies, such as fitness centers and spas, designed to provide positive outcomes.

Benefits of recreation and leisure

According to Hutchinson (2009), involvement in recreation and leisure activities are associated with several benefits which include:

• Physical benefits
• Lowers Stress and Depression
• Improves Quality of Life
• Recreational Therapy

1. Physical benefits: Taking part in recreational and leisure activities; particularly outdoors can improve an individual’s physical wellness. In fact, people who frequently take advantage of recreational and leisure activities have fewer doctor visits, lower body mass indexes and lower systolic blood pressures than those who do not.
2. Lowers stress and depression: Mental wellness is an important part of your overall health and can impact your physical well-being. Participating in leisure and recreation activities can help to better manage stress and reduce depression. Taking part in leisure activities as a family is also beneficial for everyone in by serving as a healthy way to handle stress and emotions.
3. Improves quality of life: Finding balance is also a reason why leisure and recreation can enhance your quality of life. Physical recreation in particular, is associated with improved self-esteem. In addition, an individual is more likely to feel satisfied about life when he or she regularly takes part in recreation activities. This has significant implications on mental health and, in turn, physical health.
4. Recreational therapy: All of these health benefits explain why recreational therapy can be such an essential part of a rehabilitation program. This type of therapy involves using various recreation or leisure activities to enhance or promote wellness.

Challenges to adequate participation in recreation and leisure

In spite of all the benefits of involvement in recreational and leisure activities very many people do not take advantage of these benefits due to some reasons as identified by Butler (2010) which include:

• Lack of recognition of the importance of play and recreation
• Pressure for educational achievement
• Growing role of electronic media

1. Lack of recognition of the importance of play and recreation: In many parts of the world, play is perceived as “deficit” time spent in frivolous or unproductive activity of no intrinsic worth. Parents, caregivers and public administrators commonly place a higher priority on studying or economic work than on play, which is often considered noisy, dirty, disruptive and intrusive.
2. Pressure for educational achievement: Many people in different parts of the world do not have time to engage in recreation and leisure due to too much emphasis on formal academic success. For example:

• Education is increasingly focused on academic targets and formal learning at the expense of participation in play and attainment of broader development outcomes;
• Extracurricular tuition and homework are intruding on time for freely chosen activities;
• The curriculum and daily schedule often lack recognition of the necessity of or provision for play, recreation and rest;
• The use of formal or didactic educational methods in the classroom do not take advantage of opportunities for active playful learning;
• Contact with nature is decreasing in many schools with children having to spend more time indoors;
• Opportunities for cultural and artistic activities and the provision of specialist arts educators in school are, in some countries, being eroded in favour of more academic subjects.

3. Growing role of electronic media: Individuals especially youths in all regions of the world are spending increasing periods of time engaged in play, recreational, cultural and artistic activities, both as consumers and creators, via various digital platforms and media, including watching television, messaging, social networking, gaming, texting, listening to and creating music, watching and making videos and films, creating new art forms, posting images.

Measure to promote participation in recreation and leisure

To promote active participation in recreation and leisure, Grant and Allan (2013) recommended such measures which include:

• Making physical Education compulsory for all especially students at all level of education.
• Creating professional preparation programs for all those who expect to make recreation a career.
• Recreation and leisure studies should not be limited to our educational institutions rather the government should develop community recreation and in all establishment where specialists can be deployed and work.
• Government should be enlightened about the value inherent in recreation and leisure studies whereby students can develop leadership skills and other ideals or attributes that will make them useful citizen.
• All institutions should serve as adequately as possible the education-recreation needs of students and pupils and be planned so that they will be efficient centres for community use.
• There should be effort between the three tiers of government in the provision of community recreational programs throughout the country.

References

Allan, J. (2013). Recreation and Resources. Oxford: Blackwell Inc.

Bright, C. K. (2010). The Challenges of Leisure. New Jersey: Prentice-Hall.

Bruce, C. D. (2005). Puritans at Play. Leisure and Recreation in Colonial England. New York: St. Martins Press.

Butler, G. (2010). Introduction to Community Recreation (2^nd ed.). New York: McGraw-Hill Book Company Inc.

Claudia, W. (3^rd Jan. 2013).  Stress: Can We Cope? Time Magazine.

Hutchinson, J. (2009). Principles of Recreation. New York: The Ronald Press.

Joffre, D. (2006). Current Problems of the Sociology of Leisure. International Social Science Journal 4(4), 522-31.

Kraus, R. (2009). Recreation Today: Program Planning and Leadership. New Jersey: Prentice-Hall Inc.

Max, K. (2005). Leisure: Theory and Practice. New York: John Wiley.

McLean, D., Hurd, A. & Roger, N. (2005). Kraus Recreation and Leisure in Modern Society, (7^th ed.). London: Jones and Bartlett.

Shields, P. & Rangarjan, N. (2013). A Playbook for Research Methods: Integrating Conceptual Frameworks and Project Management. . Stillwater, OK: New Forums Press.

Thomas, S. (2010). Fundamental of Recreation (2^nd ed.). New York: Library of Congress.

Yukic, T. (2010). Fundamentals of Recreation, (2^nd ed.). New York: Harper & Row.