Happy New Year! My resolutions for you (3) Recreation
Health & Fitness By KEMI ILORI
One of the things I wish most for you this year is recreation. The toils of
life have made a lot of people forget that there is such a thing as recreation.
Research has shown that recreation contributes to life satisfaction, quality
of life, health and wellness. Recreation is essential to the longevity of human
beings, especially because it helps counteract stress. As we now know, stress
is a major factor in many of the leading causes of death in the world.
What is recreation? I know that some people equate recreation with beer drinking
and chasing women. Their contemporaries of the other sex may equate it with
amassing clothes, jewelery and attending lavish occasions. These are not necessarily
recreative and not everybody has the means. The people who do not recreate,
but are serious minded and don’t fall into these categories, may even
be more miserable. The word recreation is apparently derived from the latin
word "recreatio"; meaning ‘restoration to health’. When
I was looking for a suitable description of "recreation", I found
a lot of definitions. I chose a few and will quote verbatim;
RECREATION: The wikipedia encyclopedia says, "recreation or fun is the
use of time in a manner designed for therapeutic refreshment of one’s
body or mind." It goes further to distinguish between recreation and leisure.
It states that, "while leisure is more likely a form of entertainment or
rest, recreation is active for the participant but in a refreshing and diverting
manner." The important things to note about this definition are that it
identifies recreation as being an active engagement, which therapeutically refreshes
the mind and body. Most importantly, it is FUN! I know some people will argue
that the engagements I described above provide all these for them.
Another definition, the Free encyclopedia, describes recreation as "an
act or activity for amusement or pleasure for the refreshment of strength and
spirit." So recreation heals not only your body, but your soul. The third
definition I chose is the Wordnet Dictionary definition, it describes recreation
as an, "activity that refreshes and recreates; an activity that renews
your health and spirit by enjoyment and relaxation." Recreation restores!!
Forms of recreation: Recreation could be outdoor or indoor activity. Categories
of recreation include; sports, entertainment, games, travel or vacation, etc.
As people in cities and the world's wealthier regions lead increasingly inactive
or sedentary lifestyles, the need for recreation has increased. Of course, we
all know the various activities under Sports (swimming, tennis, football, etc),
Entertainment (dancing, singing, performing, etc) and so on. Different types
of recreational activities are preferred by different people.
The interesting observation I have made is that people in underdeveloped countries
in general and black Africa in particular, have a very different orientation
towards recreation. Black Africans (except for the few converted), generally
do not enjoy extreme recreational sports like bungee jumping, scuba diving,
rope jumping, mountain climbing, etc. This may be due to the fact that life
is not a soft touch for them. They have everyday challenges of getting constant
electricity, portable running water, etc. They tend towards regular sports,
games, entertainments activities, etc.
To buttress this is the fact Britannica encyclopedia states that Dance is the
most popular form of recreation in Africa. They got that right. Unfortunately,
urban dwellers get to dance only at weekends because of the pressure of work,
school, etc. All over the world, older people prefer more tame recreational
activities like walking, swimming, golf, etc.
Government, the organized sector and recreation: We must make a conscious effort
to provide adequate recreational facilities. It is the responsibility of government
and other stake holders to provide facilities that will enable its populace
to recreate. This has the positive effect of reducing the disease burden of
the nation as well as reducing the tendency towards crime in youths. In developed
countries, the local government facilitates organized recreation by providing
parks, sporting facilities and community centres in adequate numbers for the
use of residents.
Even prison inmates have recreational facilities. The private sector also funds
official parks, community centres, etc through grants and other forms of financial
support. Sports are an important form of recreation, especially for youths.
They sometimes develop skills which enable them to compete and bring honour
to their communities.
Unfortunately, the facilities we have are grossly inadequate. Recreational sports
are a very good means of positively diverting the energy of youths from negative
activities like crime. We can see the caliber of players that street football
has produced in Nigeria. Obafemi Martins from the street football in Ebutemetta
area of Lagos, is a good example. Imagine what even average facilities will
do in a wide variety of sports. Anyhow, that is not the main trust of my article.
The more important issue is the benefit of recreation to the body.
The Benefits of Recreation: Recreation not only helps us to feel good about
ourselves because it is pleasurable, but it has immense health and social benefits.
The health benefits of recreation include the reduction of obesity, diminishing
of chronic diseases like high blood pressure and diabetes, heart disease, cancer
and osteoporosis. Recreation boosts the immune system and increases life expectancy.
Mentally it reduces depression, relieves stress, improves quality of life, improves
self – esteem, enhances personal and spiritual growth as well as increases
life satisfaction.
The social benefits of recreation include lifetime bonding amongst friends and
the people of a community who share the same recreational facilities. Recreating
together also helps to unite families, it promotes cultural sensitivity and
learning. It develops youths, deters crime and negative behaviour.
Exercise and Recreation: Whilst sporting activities can be recreative, they
are not necessarily the same. This is because recreation is pleasurable and
enjoyable. Exercise may be a form of training to improve performance, to achieve
certain goals like weight reduction, etc. Exercise ceases to be recreational
when it stops being enjoyable. Despite this, exercise is also good for the body
and has to be understood and properly used for the benefit of the body. Below
is a table that briefly summarizes the difference between recreation and exercise.
Five Distinctions Between Exercise & Recreation
Exercise Recreation
Logical Instinctive
Universal Personal
General Specific
Physical Mental
Not Fun Fun
These distinctions are not rigid. There are exercises which can be enjoyable
and thereby recreational. May you find good and beneficial recreational and
exercise activities in 2008.