Recreation
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
Recreation is the employment of time in a non-profitable way, in many ways also a therapeutic refreshment of one's body or mind. Recreation is often distinguished from leisure. Where leisure is, or ought to be, restful, recreation is refreshing and diverting. As people in the world's wealthier regions lead more and more sedentary life styles, the need for recreation has grown. The rise of so called active vacations exemplify this.
Recreation, play, and fun are not the preserve of humans; nearly all creatures indulge in this to some extent. Play is essential for the development of skills, the most basic of which are motor skills in young creatures.
The weekend is typically a time for recreation, perhaps (in Judeo-Christian and Muslim cultures) because the Sabbath falls on the weekend and the Sabbath is "the day of rest." Holidays are also a common time for recreation.
Traditionally music and dance serve as recreation in many cultures, as do sports, hobbies, games and tourism. Watching TV and listening to music are common forms of recreation, or rather leisure.
For many the most valued recreation is spontaneous and original.
Many activities may be functional and/or recreational:
- Eating and drinking
- Shopping
- Hunting and fishing
- Travel
- Sexual behavior
- Using the Internet
- Conversing
- Reading a book
- Sport and exercise
- Martial arts / tricking
- Sleeping
- Playing a videogame
- Visiting an amusement park
- Reading and contributing to Wikipedia
In recent years, more 'exciting' forms of recreation include: skiing, snowboarding, bungee jumping, sky diving, hang gliding, paint balling, rock climbing, backpacking, canyoning, caving, BASE jumping, adventure tourism.
Recreation, Law, and Morality
Some recreational activities are made illegal because of the percieved immorality of certain forms of recreation in many regions. These include gambling, some forms of sex, and drug use. Often one form of an activity is arbitrarily viewed as immoral by a culture while other forms are acceptable. For example, some forms of sex have been outlawed in some regions, such as prohibitions against sodomy and oral sex in much of the United States (though the Supreme Court recently ruled such laws unconstitutional in the landmark Lawrence v. Texas case), while other forms of intercourse are acceptable. Another example is recreational drug use. In most of the world responsible alcohol consumption, a form of recreational drug use, is legal and acceptable by most people's moral standards, probably because alcohol has traditionally been in wide use in Western Europe, yet nearly all drugs that have traditionally not been widely used in European culture have been deemed illegal in most of the world.
Some individuals view recreation as largely non-productive, even trivial. Excessive recreation is not considered healthy, and may be labelled as escapism. However, research has shown that recreation contributes to life satisfaction, quality of life, health and wellness, and that the use of recreation as a diversion may have clinical applications to individuals with chronic pain and other health impairments. In some cultures and religions recreation is encouraged on certain days and discouraged on others e.g. In Judaism the Sabbath is a day for recreation and relaxation, which has in turn influenced many Christian sects to use the Sabbath for the same purpose, although some sects interpret the Sabbath to be a day where worship is done in leiu of recreation.
Recreation is very essential to longevity of human beings. It is the exact opposite of stress. Today, stress is the number one killer in the United States according to Time Magazine. Stress can lead to a number of diseases including Heart Disease. Stress can lead to diminished sexual desire and an inability to achieve orgasm in women.
