Importance of recreational activities

Hey Everyone! By now you guys must have read at least one post about the importance of recreational activities but just in case you are new to the term, I’ve got it covered for you in this post.

Not only will I talk about what recreational activity is but also about my hobbies and how I have incorporated it into my life and how you can too. So let’s get started!

Do you feel drained after a long day? Maybe you feel so stressed out that you think you don’t have the energy to face another day in your life. Life in this century is extremely hectic, tiring, and stressful for a large number of people. It could empty you of physical and mental strength.

“All Work and no Play makes Jack a dull boy” goes a popular saying.

The significance of this saying has increased manifold in today’s fast-paced and competitive world where students are forced by both their guardians and the society as a whole to devote increasing hours to academic learning, whether theoretical or practical and knowledge enhancing activities so that they can stay ahead in the rat race. Our lives are so busy that most of us have forgotten how important it is to set time apart for fun, leisure, and recreation. We need to understand the importance of balancing our lives with work and recreational activities.

What is recreation?

Recreation consists of activities or experiences carried on with leisure, usually chosen voluntarily by the participant — either because of the satisfaction, pleasure or creative enrichment derived, or because certain personal or social values can be gained from them. It may also be perceived as the process of participation, or as the emotional state derived from involvement.

Leisure time activities can include playing an indoor game, listening to music, taking a walk in the park, playing with your children or pets, social dancing, aerobics, or a work-out in the gym. Engaging yourself in some kind of recreational activity that excites you is the best way to bring down unwanted worries, tensions, and stress and make you feel happier and healthier.

What are some of the major benefits of recreational activities?

Various studies have shown the importance of recreations in one’s life specifically in three aspects- physical health, mental health, and improving the quality of life.

• Physical Health:

Recreational activities, especially outdoor ones improve one’s health by maintaining lower body fat percentages, lowering blood and cholesterol levels, increasing muscular strength, flexibility, muscular endurance, body composition, and cardiovascular endurance. And as we all know “health is wealth”.

• Mental Health:

Mental health is essential for overall physical health. Recreational activities help manage stress. They provide a chance to nurture oneself and provide a sense of balance and self-esteem, which can directly reduce anxiety and depression. They provide a channel for releasing tension and anxiety thus facilitating emotional stability and resilience. Such activities help students to become more self-reliant, emphatic, and self-disciplined.

• Improved Quality of Life:

People who make recreation a priority are more likely to feel satisfied with their lives overall. Recreational activities help create a balance between academic pressures with physical and mental well-being. It enriches self-expression, self-fulfillment ability, interpersonal skills, techniques and methods of using leisure, physical strength, creative expression, and aesthetic sense. This also helps people to deal with common day-to-day problems more effectively as it makes people more optimistic and have a positive outlook on life.

So what I do for recreation is drawing, painting, sketching, designing, and all such stuff. So I will be talking about its importance.

• IMPROVED CREATIVITY
• IMPROVED MEMORY
• IMPROVED PROBLEM-SOLVING SKILLS
• STRESS RELIEF
• MORE POSITIVE EMOTIONS
• RELEASE OF HIDDEN EMOTIONS
• INCREASE OF EMOTIONAL INTELLIGENCE
• MORE ATTENTION TO DETAIL

Given the various health benefits of painting and drawing, it is clear that these activities can be very useful in promoting the welfare of an individual. Aside from improving mental and emotional capabilities, an individual may enjoy improved sensory and motor skills through constant painting and drawing. As anyone can engage in painting and drawing, these activities are definitely worth a try.

It would be nice to occasionally take some time off, lift a paintbrush or pencil, and start painting or drawing. Thus, it comes as no surprise that such activities have been loved by millions around the world throughout the years.

Overall it can be said that recreational activities help in overall development. It not only helps to gather knowledge but to use it ethically to lead a healthy and better life. It teaches one to think with reason and live with a more practical approach to life. It also enhances one’s all-round development, thus helping to achieve success in one’s endeavors.