Frances Marella O.

Cristobal G-12 ABM Block 2

Physical Education and Health II

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“If variety is the spice of life, then recreation is the sugar,” Kimberly Grandal
once said. Well, in my view, this is most probably because of the sweet fruit that one
gets for doing recreational activities or for having it as part of everyday lifestyle. By
the way, those “sweet fruits” that I’m talking about will be further tackled later on.
You know, “recreation” is such a beautiful word. It is defined in some books and
dictionary as the process of giving life to something, of refreshing something, of
restoring something, or is anything that is stimulating and rejuvenating for an
individual. This ‘something’ of course refers to the whole person. Frankly speaking,
recreational activities only bring forth positive effect to an individual whether be it
physical, social, mental, emotional, or spiritual. Yes, overall health it is. And are you
aware that improving overall health means improving overall lives as well? Just…
recreation could mean everything to a person.

Based from PE module, recreation or sometimes called positive leisure is the

expenditure of time with intent to gain some refreshment. It is a break from
monotony and a diversion from the daily routine. It is a positive change from the
stereotypical lifestyle and involves an active participation in some entertaining
activity. Recreational activities when applied daily could give us opportunities to be
creative and be our real selves, it could help us to have a balanced life and be happy,
it could help us to be more productive individuals, and it could give help us have life
goals which increases the chances that we will be successful in the future.

Recreational activities optimistically affect the different aspects of a person’s

life, but I will only discuss about the major ones. Firstly, we have physical. Physical
leisure activities includes walking at the park, nature tripping, hiking, skiing,
camping, outing, group games, minor sports, and others. As you can observe, physical
recreational activities are mostly or usually done outdoors. And taking part in
activities outdoors can improve your physical wellness, maintain lower body fat
percentages, and lower blood pressure and cholesterol levels. According to Dr. Laura
Payne of University of Illinois, people who frequently take advantage of park
activities have fewer doctor visits, thus, it could also reduce the risk of having
cardiovascular activities, prevent cancer, obesity, and other chronic conditions. Plus,
such could help us develop muscular strength, agility, flexibility, and the likes.
 Next to that, we have mental benefits of recreational activities. Mental
wellness is critical to health. According to studies, participating in recreational
activities helps manage stress, and taking time to nurture oneself provides a sense of
balance and self-esteem, which can directly reduce anxiety. To us students, I know
for a fact that leisure activities are really important. Coz you know, academics is our
major source of stress aside from family matters. We often tend to get so much
devoted with our school works to the point that we get easily frazzled from it. We
make ourselves so busy with such things that we often forget to give ourselves a break
and take time of relaxation and leisure. And honestly I know this isn’t good. This habit
makes our lives dull, unbalanced, and unhappy. But then I learned. Every once in a
while of studying or doing assignments, I take a short break by listening to music or
watching entertaining videos since I know to myself that this kind of stuffs make me
feel at ease, thus, reducing the pressure I feel inside my head. There are also
recreational activities which can improve the intellect of an individual such as poetry,
short story writing, answering puzzles, and board games (e.g. scrabble, chess). Don’t
worry, time you enjoy wasting is not wasted time.

And lastly, the social advantages of recreational activities. Recreation builds

stronger individuals and families by reducing negative, self-destructive behaviors like
harmful vices such as smoking, dangerous substance abuse and juvenile delinquency.
This positive approach helps reduce social service and justice costs. Moreover,
recreation in the form of group activities develops social skills that will lead to the
development of proper conduct and behavior and social graces. Social leisure
activities include social dancing, parties, parlor games and others.

Recreation is all about improving the quality of your life. And taking part in
such activities will most likely make you feel satisfied about your life which
consequently causes significant implications in your physical, social, and mental
health. Improving your lifestyle means improving your health. Improving your health
means improving yourself as a person. And improving yourself will improve the quality
of life that you have.

Now let me end/leave you with this beautiful quote that I’ve just read
recently:

“Recreation’s purpose is not to kill time, but to make life; not to keep a person
occupied, but to keep them refreshed; not to offer an escape from life, but to
provide a discovery of life.” –Author Unknown