Recreation and Sports As A Bridge To Better Life Quality For Low-Income Countries
Leisure refers to the spare time which individuals are able to spend off from their daily responsibilities (i.e. work and other domestic activities) for the purpose to rest, relax, engage in physical activity and enjoy life. It is through leisure time that we participate in various recreational and sporting activities. There are a lot of things which can be tagged as recreational and sporting activities some of which are: horse riding, water skiing, hiking, fishing, camping, gardening, photography, videography and surfing. These activities help in reducing tension and stress, which in turn helps in maintaining a healthy body and mind.
Leisure time not only provides people with the break they need from work but it also has a positive affect on health by inducing an active lifestyle and improving the perceived freedom of an individual. In addition to these positive effects of recreation, it has been found that leisure time leads to greater achievement in school and college as well as increased productivity of an individual. The reason for this is that it helps in focusing one’s attention, creativity and thereby improves cognitive and emotional skills which are needed in today’s competitive society. This is because there is greater competition in college among students since most of them have jobs or engage in other outside interests apart from studies. With this, the importance of recreation and sports in a student’s life and development is also highlighted.
It has been noted that recreation is important and plays a key role in the lives of most Americans who live in low-income countries. The positive effect of recreation is known to decrease absenteeism due to sickness and accidents, improve attendance in schools and colleges, decrease medical bills of patients in hospitals, increase job performance and job retention, reduce drug abuse and addiction, improve life expectancy and more. It has also been observed that recreation reduces health-threatening diseases such as obesity, osteoporosis, diabetes, heart disease, stroke and high blood pressure. All these positive effects of recreation on life could be attributed to the decrease in the amount of time people spend in sedentary ways.