• Alex Savin
• March 11, 2022
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The importance of recreation

“All work and no play makes you a dull boy/girl.” This saying has lasted in time for quite a long and for good reasons. If you work all the time and don’t have time for some occasional recreation, you will simply tire yourself. Recreation is beneficial for both physical and psychological wellbeing. In this article, you will learn about the importance of recreation for maintaining physical and mental health.

Never forget to rest

Recreation is an activity of leisure, leisure being discretionary time. The “need to do something for recreation” is an essential element of human biology and psychology. Recreational activities are often done for enjoyment, amusement, or pleasure and are considered to be “fun”. The term recreation implies participation to be healthy refreshing mind and body.

The Values and Benefits of Recreation for professionals are numerous. The charm lies in looking out for something that works out best for you. There are different types of recreation and what value and benefit you derive from it depends upon your proactiveness to try them out and incorporate them as part of your working routine. 

10 benefits of rest. The importance of recreation for all

Let’s talk about 10 values and benefits that work out best and should encourage you to take recreational activities from time to time.

1. Helps You Relax – Recreational activities help you relax and give a soothing effect to your nerves. It helps you release the tension and maintain equilibrium. It is one of the best relaxation techniques to help you get back to work in full form.
2. Reduces Stress- Are you feeling stressed lately. Do late hours sucks out the best in you. If tension is taking its toll on you then recreation activities are best for you.
3. Impacts Your Health- Recreational activities have a very good impact on your health. It is an excellent medicine for ailments that cannot be cured in any other manner. It is a natural way to stay fit and healthy in life.
4. Social Benefits- It helps you meet like-minded people and develop a favorable rapport. People who share common interest makes a joyful group that helps each other to promote themselves. The importance of recreation gets reflected in the status you build for yourself.
5. Refresh the Senses- Feeling dumb? Recreation is the important and best activity to refresh your senses and prepare you for the next battle. It rejuvenates your senses and makes you feel light again.
6. Refills the Energy- Recreation activities are the best mechanism to refill your energy and make you feel alive again. It is the best way to charge you up when you feel exhausted and drained out.
7. Quality of Life- Recreational activities help you build self-esteem and confidence. It helps you enhance your quality of life by building a positive self-image.
8. Effective Time Utilization- When your body is at the best of its form both in terms of health and energy, recreational activities help you utilize your time effectively. The effort you put into a certain task is way below what you could have possibly put in without any recreational activity.
9. Sharpen Skills- The value and benefit of recreational activities are best seen in the form of skills that gets developed and sharpened over the period of time. You not only are inclined to learn more things but are also motivated to be at your best.
10. New Avenues- It has happened to people and it can help you too. People who enjoy it to the best of its form have developed a career in one form or the other.

The importance of recreation for your health and productivity

Investigated the role of recreation satisfaction on life satisfaction using 78 male and 132 female retired persons (aged 60–94 yrs). Ss completed the Leisure Activities Blank, a leisure satisfaction scale, and a self-exploration questionnaire. Results indicate that frequency of participation in recreation activities had no significant positive relationship to life satisfaction in retirement. Satisfaction with recreation activities showed a significant and positive relationship with life satisfaction even when compared with the variables of gender, age, marital status, annual income, self-rated health, religiosity, retirement choice, and mobility. It is suggested that recreation program planners who serve older participants should assess the activity as well as the potential for satisfaction in programs.

This paper proposes that recreation resource managers need to give more attention to the benefits that a person derives from participation in recreation activities. Behavioral information is described as one of several types of knowledge needed in recreation planning and management decisions. A model outlining the dynamics of a recreationist’s behavior is presented. Within that model sequences of specific types of recreation behavior are traced from: deciding on a particular recreation activity, planning, and preparation, on-site engagement, recall, realizing satisfying experiences, to gaining the ultimate benefits these experiences can produce. Personal and social benefits of recreation participation are defined as the ways in which individual functions or performs more effectively because of his having participated in a recreation activity. The importance to recreation resource management of information on these benefits is described as is the state of knowledge for identifying and measuring them. Throughout, the need for additional research is emphasized.

This study examines the interrelationships among recreation and other life circumstance variables and quality of life. LISREL, a causal analysis technique, was used to test a theoretical model based on previous gerontological research. Results indicate that the variables of sex, education, religiosity, marital status, and age are significantly related to income, health, recreation activity participation, and recreation satisfaction. However, these variables do not significantly influence the quality of life directly. The only significant, direct predictor of quality of life is satisfaction with recreation.

Relax, Take It Easy

Importance of recreation is like a rain shower during scorching heat. Recreation is the time to be together with your friends and family and to have fun. Devoting some time to recreation helps in staying healthy and achieving peace of mind. Recreational activities serve as a way of relaxing and as research has shown recreation on a daily basis reduces risks of diabetes and hypertension and it improves mental and physical health and improves the quality of life.