Five Benefits of Leisure - Essay Example

Life and Leisure Name: Course: Instructor: Institution: Date of Submission: Question: Outline five benefits of leisure. Is it feasible to attain these benefits in the modern society? If so, why? If not, why not? Focus on leisure is essential for lives of individuals because of the benefits that accrue to the society that embraces (Caldwell, 2005). Studies show that the proper use of spare time to take part in physical, mental and other forms of exercise and leads to a general wellbeing of an individual and the environment and society in as a whole. In many dimensions leisure encompasses the time when an individual is free from normal bread-winning activities to do what he or she prefers doing most during spare time (Tataroğlu, 2006).The essay aims at determining five ways in which labour is important in shaping the lives of people. There is also a task of establishing whether there is a possibility for people to attain the benefits in the modern society. There are a number of psychological benefits that leisure brings to people. People that do physical exercise feel much free and independent after a pile-up of psychological pressure from day jobs (De Bloom et al., 2010). The self-confidence of humans improves when they incorporate leisure to their daily life. The level of Self-esteem is relatively higher with people who often have leisure than those that do not (Csikszentmihalyi & LeFevre, 1989). Scientists also say that leisure activities guarantee development and improvement of leadership skills in leisure-active individuals. The development of the skills arises as a result of an increase in interaction with different groups of people at the social places. Other researchers claim that people that regularly have leisure activities stand a better position to relate better with others than the ones that concentrate only on non-leisure activities (Hamilton et al, 2007). The good relational skills are due the increased level of tolerance that comes with the people that have leisure together. The improved relationship skills also occurs when individuals that have an exceptional ability to show teamwork, better ability to clarify ideas, increase in their creativity and ability to express not only spiritual values but also the spiritual orientation. The cognitive efficiency also improves with an increase in the level of entertainment that an individual has (Kramer et al., 2006). The cognitive efficiency incorporates being more adaptable and resilient, high sense of humour, having a more joyful life competitiveness that is moderate and having a sense of individual fit. There is an improvement in the willingness of a person to learn about history, culture, physical features among others during interaction at the social sites (Barker et al., 2006). The frequency at which an individual interacts with others at social sites during leisure issues in the development of positive attitude and nurturing of will to achieve increases and selflessness increases (Marques et al. 2007). Science shows that the tendency to exercise during leisure time improves the disease fighting capability of bodies of people. An example is the enhanced immune system that prevents contacting of terminal diseases such as diabetes, arthritis and cancer. Physical activity during leisure can enhance physical flexibility of an individual. Doing mental exercise helps to improve people's memory capability and problem-solving ability such as crossword puzzles. Other physiological benefits include the development of an immune system that lowers chances of getting terminal diseases such as cancer, heart disease, diabetes and arthritis. All the above positive things make a person develop willingness to contribute to the societal matters. In the social setup, ownership of areas of recreation by a community or state promotes a mentality of awareness in belonging to a locality as well as understanding the natural environment (Collins, 2004). Leisure activities can lead to maintenance and enhancement of ethnic identities. When there is a recreation that involves a number of people, meeting the unique needs of societal sub-section such as women, children and people with disabilities becomes possible. Lack of recreational activities creates the minimal chances of satisfying the requirements. There is also an increase in chances of re-ignition of family relationships and other forms of social cohesion and integration when people meet in recreational places that substantiate the meaning of life. The resources that account to ensure in a particular community can help to pride and satisfaction to members of a particular community. People positively identify themselves with the communities with recreation facilities and activities. When tourists visit the communities, for the leisure, they promote or stabilise the economic development of the states (Murphy, 2012). The increase in intensity of family bonding during recreation time raises the probability of social support and companionship which becomes a component living longer with less prevalence to some diseases. Leisure professionals claim that the act is an essential factor for productive growth of children. Through participating in leisure activities, a kid learns to associate itself to a particular society. Leisure has an application in creating the populations that are clinically institutionalised and ease the burden of the people under seclusion such as prisoners are other functions of leisure (Friedmann & Tsai 2000). Research shows that through exposure of people in isolation, children and the ones that have been clinically institutionalized in leisure activities, chances of drug abuse, involvement in criminal activities and other social ills reduce significantly. The recreation activities Social scientists also claim that chances of people learning new ideas through sharing amongst one another rise significantly during recreation. The recreation activities indicate a significant contribution in environmental protection. The wilderness law in the USA gives a substantive elaboration of the same. The programme is established to enhance over 90 million acres of desert. The drive to this natural environment preservation policy is love for entertainment. There are other sections of the environment that are under protection all over the world, such as natural forests and the green parts of cities. Love for recreation sites leads to protection of the sites, for instance, when students preserve the sites of studies by avoiding damaging the sites. Making users of recreational sites to pay for the use of equipment makes it possible to maintain the sites (Davis, 1963). Bodies of individuals respond positively to regular physical or mental exercise as a form of leisure. Through ages scientists advocate for physical exercise as a way of ensuring overall bodily well-being of people. A good example to elaborate this is the cardiovascular benefits that a regular physiological exercise offers. The exercise reduces the cholesterol present in serum, high-density fats and triglycerides in the blood that is helpful in control and preventing of hypertension. Without exercise, there are increased chances of the body developing spinal problems, malfunctioning of nerves and low body mass index in children (Hossain, Kawar & El Nahas, 2007). n. Exercise as a form of recreation strengthens the muscles and connective tissues. Excessive inspiration during physical exercise that is done as a form of recreation has an effect of increasing the capacity of lungs. Many social studies claim that many people have demand for leisure facilities and participate in leisure activities. Payment for leisure facilities and activities leads to monetary benefits to the owners and suppliers of the facilities. The payment occurs in exhibitions where people pay for entry separately and entertainment events separately. The payments show a positive perception for recreation among the people (Roberts, 2006). The leisure activities stand to be one of the biggest industries in the world. It creates employment opportunities, and enhances high exchange rates among different states the economic benefits are collective in nature and society as a whole. A number of questions arise on whether the world can gain the benefits that leisure brings. Determination of the possibility of attaining the goals calls for exploration of the perceptions of different people's meaning of leisure. There exist a number of different social attitudes and ideologies in relation to what it means to pursue and achieve the leisure. People comprehend and perceive the term leisure in different ways that make it hard to understand what the best definition of leisure really is. A number of researchers try to explain the real meaning of leisure in their ways such that there is no universal leisure. The following are some of the arguments that different personalities use to define leisure. Some scholars argue Political institutions matter in the societal attainment of feasible leisure. Where there is sufficient provision of sensitive facilities and services from the government, the citizens devote their resources to leisure activities. The reason for the devotion is people's ability to pursue both peace and prosperity where there is no military; there is a trade-off between peace and prosperity (Amenta & Ramsey, 2010).The argument brings the idea that attaining leisure is possible on condition that political stability and security systems exist. Other scholars claim that the society perceives that for there to be a leisure society, provision of public planning is a must. There must be a situation where the government takes responsibility in sports management because it is a common leisure activity. The discussion carries the notion of public ownership of leisure facilities for attaining of the leisure. Some studies show that the leisure is under the classification of the time that the society makes up for long working hours. The definition is an impression of a healthy attitude for leisure the theorists of the 19th century predict that the future generations are to be full of entertainment. However, due to lack of specificity with the time that the leisure generation is to raise makes the ideology stands to be vague. The ancient people anticipate that the future generations will have amplification in leisure participation. The dream that the future generations will have less work and more leisure shows that there is a possibility of attaining the leisure. The idea of the existence of the society with only leisure appears in the biblical set-up of the Garden of Eden. The leisure dream society under Adam crumbles after Adam gets curses to sweat so that he eats in Genesis 3:19. However, the contrary world exists before the Garden of Eden because God works before resting. The study shows that there are chances of people attaining leisure, but they must work for it. The maturing of industrial capitalism in the 19th century gives another clue about what leisure entails. The neoclassical economists such as Fred Marshall in the Principles of Economics claim that the number of people that know to work good increases than those who know to leisure well. The scholar further says that it is through freedom to use leisure at will; the people learn to utilise labour well. People that do not have freedom to use leisure do not gain self-respect and become real citizens. The study brings the thought that people that work well are the ones that use their leisure well, contrary to the notion that leisure time is the time when an individual is free (Kipfer, 2002). The societal perception about leisure differs. After the 1930 great depression, the term changed to new leisure in USA that encompasses the effort that all the concerned stakeholders apply to combat the effects of depression Foster Dulles History of recreation makes reference to democracy as a recreation. He claims that when people can freely express themselves, then it is an indication of leisure among them Alfred Lloyd uses innovation and automation to refer to leisure. With mechanization, there is fast production, shorter working hours, shorter weeks and an improvement in mechanical efficiency that leads to spending of a small duration to acquire training. The mechanization translates to increase in wealth, fine arts, vicarious functioning of machinery, standardization and increased quality and quantity of production. In Techniques and civilization, Mumford states that the lapse and mismanagement of processes that can lead to the final state of relaxation that the desirable end of leisure are not reachable. The definition implies that people must work more to attain leisure. The idea is contrary to the literal definition of leisure that the leisure aims at reducing the time that people participates in economically productive activities. Some studies say that the incidence of commercial activities is to blame for the decrease in the number of episodes that people have leisure at their homes. There is an increase in business interests instead of desires, needs and benefits of people. Industrial development causes congestion in cities, a situation that limits the people to have leisure at their premise. Industrialization in the world is on the increase. The increase implies that if the study holds, then there is a reduction in leisure to the communities. Joan in his book Diogenes claims that if there is minimal usage of time to produce material goods in order to participate in leisure, people can have a feeling of boredom. Finally, they can engage war and kill their fellow humans. The argument is a pessimistic to leisure since it suggests that strategies to minimise the number of hours that individuals are free each day. From the above studies, it is valid to claim that leisure is an important factor in human life people need to embrace the seriousness when they are dealing with it. However, because of different approaches among people about the constituents of leisure, there is difficulty concluding that it is possible to attain leisure. However, depending on one's beliefs, leisure can be attained. For those that believe that leisure involves working in many hours, they can do it. For those that believe that leisure entails working in few hours, they must work for it. References Barker, D., Quennerstedt, M., & Annerstedt, C. (2013). Do student interactions and learning affect health and physical education? Action and Sports Pedagogy, (ahead-of- print), 1-18. Caldwell, L. L. (2005).Between Leisure and health, which one is therapeutic? British Journal (1), 7-26. Collins, M. (2004). Sport and social exclusion. The Journal of Sports Sciences. 22(8), 727- 740. Csikszentmihalyi, M., & LeFevre, J. (1989). 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