Benefits of Leisure - Assignment Example

Assignment Name: Course Professor’s name: University name: City, State Date of submission Benefits of Leisure Introduction Leisure can be defined as the freedom from the demands of duty or work thus one can rest or enjoy his or her sport and hobbies. Leisure and recreation has numerous advantages and that is why it’s embraced by both the young and the old. In fact leisure and recreation is the largest industry in the world [Bla10]. This is because there exist numerous benefits attributed to leisure and recreation. It is important to recognize that the forms of leisure have also changed as times pass and individual keep on modifying the type of leisure activities they engage in as the years go by [The03]. For example in the 1950s and early 60s the main leisure activities included horseback riding, snowmobiling, skiing and taking a hike. As much as people still enjoy such activities, human beings have been leaning towards the less vigorous physical activities [Mor13]. This paper is going to analyze the benefits of leisure and also determine whether they are feasible in the present society or not. The benefits of leisure will be analyzed in 5 main categories and these include; Physiological benefits, Economic, Psychological benefits, environmental benefits and social benefits. This will enable us have a greater picture of the benefits that are related to leisure activities. Research studies suggests that the benefits accrued from leisure activities are equal and most times they exceed the benefits that one accrues from the other public service that we engage in our daily lives [Fin08]. Physiological Benefits Leisure activities such as regular exercise have been proven scientifically to have significant physiological benefits. Regular aerobic exercise during leisure time offers individuals cardiovascular benefits such as cholesterol reduction , triglycerides reduction and at the same time increasing the high density lipids in the blood thus helping preventing and controlling lifestyle diseases such as hypertension [Sam00]. The other factor is that leisure activities such as exercise improve neuropsychological functioning, reduce spinal problem, and improve the neuropsychological functioning of the brain, increase a person’s bone mass and strength among the children [Mor13]. However, these benefits cannot be accrued from a single leisure activity. This is achieved through consistent engagement in leisure activity and commitment. Most individuals tend to exercise during their personal leisure time and that physical activity is required during leisure time, mainly motivates the personal goals one wants to achieve and not physical fitness [Flo02]. It is important to realize that most of the stated psychological benefits can be accrued from stress management activities that most people engage in during their leisure time. Such initiatives also promote psychophysiological benefits such as positive change in one’s moods, stress reduction, physical and mental relaxation, reduction in stress hormones, positive changes in the moods which in turn result to an enhanced outlook on life [Fin08]. Whereas these psychological and physiological benefits accrue to numerous individuals it requires a little level of imagination so as to be able to see how the society in general significantly benefits from individuals who live a healthy mental and physical life [Fin08]. The society is likely to benefit from greater productivity and also take care of less stresses from other individuals. It is therefore important for the public policy to reflect this form of thinking. Economic Benefits The economic benefits of leisure expenditures and its investments are quite tremendous and have well acknowledged. By this we refer to how willing people are ready to spend for the leisure services offered and it economic impression of its exact expenditures. Many analysis concerning studies related to leisure have shown that there is much willingness exhibited to wage for the available opportunities in the field of leisure [Fin08]. In terms of monetary flows, the leisure industry is not just portrayed as big but also among the biggest successful industries in worldwide. It also reflects greatly on providing income to the economy of a state and also coming up with new job opportunities. It has been realized that the agricultural field has been facing great competition from the tourism and travelling industries [Bla10]. The latter have become the new world’s largest income generator in the recent years between nations. Out of the fifty states of the United States, five of the states show evidence that tourism has managed to emerge top three of the most income generating activities and employment sectors of their economy. The Disney World based at California was opened on 17th of July, 1955. In the year 1992 on June they were able to attract 300,000,000 tourist both locally and internationally [The03]. In Texas, the Alamo is able to maintain an average of 2.2 million tourist yearly. All aspects of leisure are believed to increase the quality and also the quantity of the workers’ productivity [The03]. This will result to decrease in cases related to absenteeism. The benefits of leisure are experienced by more people in religions and even states rather than individually. Environmental Benefits Leisure has greatly contributed to the protection of the environment. In the year 1964 the law passed an Act of Wilderness that enabled the creation of the wilderness preservation system that is more than 90 million acres to reserve the primitive recreations [The03]. With this kind of change it is almost guaranteed that the green regions in the city and the states forests are protected. As a result the cultural heritages and historic sites are preserved. The industry is then bound to introduce preservative cultures such as recycling. There is some tax imposed on a few recreational equipment to enable maintenance state hunting and golf courses considering fishing grounds too [Dri91]. The contributions made by these movements are recognized in public and have positive impact to the social life of beings. Psychological Benefits The psychological benefits of leisure are quite lengthy. Many people are able to acquire a sense of freedom and independence. Enhancement of self-competence, self-reliance, autonomy. Some confess to having an improved intellect of self-worth [The03]. Those given the opportunity to work in the industry are able to enhance their leadership skills, there are able to learn how to relate better with other people. They learn to tolerate and understand their environment and surroundings. In the long run one is able to work as a team and enhance the level of your creativity [Fin08]. In most cases the individuals emerge with advanced orientation, there is an increase on their cognitive efficiency and with better methods to solve problems. There is tendency of getting to adapt to new places easier and resiliency. Due to frequent socializing one is able to improve your sense of humor. You are able to compete positively with your colleagues [Mor13]. Your knowledge increases as you learn more about new things about culture and historic facts. Workers are able to develop a can-do attitude reducing the sense of social alienation. There is evidence that this benefits exist and are pervasive with great magnitude. They help in maintaining and promoting an individual’s ability to contribute and function in their society. Social Benefits We can also term them as the cultural benefits of leisure. They have great impact on communities or a nation. They are able to have their pride through the significant changes to by the leisure services and its activities. For example, considering football and other spectacular resources bring pride to the specific state. Monuments like the Gettysburg Battlefield gives a better understanding of the culture [Mor13]. The resources and opportunities offered by this field give chances to maintain positive identities and its central values. The income reaped from the tourism industry have contributed greatly to maintaining the stability of an economic or promoting the developments of that region in many communities [The03]. Visits to some of these recreational places have resulted to enhancement of the historical and cultural awareness in a nation by also improving the understanding of the natural environment. Most leisure activities enhance and maintain the ethnic identities by meeting the unique wants of particular regions in a society. This includes the unemployed in the society, the aged, and children, the disabled, single parents and youth. When a family goes out for leisure activities together they are able to create a strong bond considering other types of integration take place, hence give life a meaning to the members [The03]. There is evidence that it results to a high quality life that is disease free. Most of the system centers are dependent on behaviour, places and leisure opportunities. Most of those working in the leisure industries have a strong believe that the leisure opportunities are very necessary for the development of every child, to reduce alienation socially, easing burdens such as confinement in some populations like those in jail [Dri91]. If these opportunities are well administered and equally distributed in the society, it will help in dealing with problems like crime and drug abuse. The Modern Society From the analysis above it is vivid that Leisure and recreational activities play a crucial role in our live and it is important that we embrace it because of the positive impacts associated with them. I believe that the benefits of leisure that have been discusses above can be achieved in our modern society. There are exist several steps that can be carried out so as to enhance leisure in the society and nation in general. One of the main ways this can be achieved, is through changing individuals’ mind set [WOR14]. It about time individuals’ are shown the importance of leisure in their life. The present man is only motivated by white collar jobs and achieving success hence forgetting the most basic activities that make their life better. In order to change this culture, this has to start from the young school children who are still growing and thus a very important group of people who can easily accept new ideas and change [Fin08]. Another target population should be the working population who most times never engage in any form of leisure activity apart from their job. This kindly of life will make individuals lead a very unhealthy and antisocial life. This has had the effect of affecting an individual’s quality of life. Most Adults cannot rum more than 100 meters because of the nature of life that they presently lead. This has seen most individuals in developed countries develop sever life style disease that can directly be linked to lack of leisure and recreational activity [Flo02]. I believe if the population is informed on the importance of leisure, then it will be able to change their perception towards leisure. This is because a large percentage of the population perceive leisure as a waste of money and time which should not be the case in any way [Mor13]. The other way in which this can be achieved is through implementation of policies that encourage individuals to participate in leisure activities [WOR14]. This can be significantly be achieved through collaboration of the authority within a given county or even national policies that encourage participation in leisure activities. It is important to recognize that there exist Leisure organization that unites the whole world and is referred as The World Leisure Organization. The World Leisure Organization was formed in 1952 as a nonprofit organization and a no-governmental body of organizations and individuals from every part of the world [WOR14]. The main aim of the World Leisure Organization is to improve the quality of life of individuals, ranging from children to adults. The organization achieves its goals by promoting leisure as an integral cultural, social and economic factor for a sustainable environmental development [Sam00]. I believe that policies by organizations such as the world leisure can play a significant role in making the benefits attributed to leisure be feasible. However, this should first be carried out at a local level so that individuals of kind can get to know the importance of leisure and how it impacts on our daily lives [Flo02]. Conclusion From this analysis it is vivid that leisure creates benefits in numerous ways and that those who have embraced leisure have significantly benefited from hence have a better quality of life compared to the individuals that do not participate in leisure. It is also important that individuals are educated on the importance of leisure and how it can impact their lives positively. References Bla10: , (Blackshaw, 2010), The03: , (The Academy of Leisure Sciences, 2003), Mor13: , (Morgan, 2013), Fin08: , (Finn, 2008), Sam00: , (Sampson, 2000), Flo02: , (Florida, 2002), Dri91: , (Driver, et al., 1991), WOR14: , (WORLD LEISURE ORGANIZATION, 2014), Read More