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We all know that leading an active lifestyle is good for us. If you participate in regular moderate physical activity, you can expect to enjoy numerous health and social benefits, including:
- reduced risk of heart disease and stroke
- reduced risk of developing high blood pressure
- reduced blood pressure in people who already have high blood pressure
- prevention of some cancers
- reduced risk of becoming overweight
- reduced risk of developing diabetes and prevention and treatment of non-insulin dependent diabetes - it has been estimated that 30 to 50 percent of new cases of type 2 diabetes could be prevented by appropriate physical levels of activity
- better bone and muscle development and prevention of osteoporosis
- improved muscle flexibility, strength and endurance
- reduced risk of dying prematurely
- reduced risk of falling, and improved mobility and strength for older adults
- improved quality of sleep.
Physical activity can also help:
- encourage social interaction
- improve concentration and learning
- increase personal confidence and self-awareness
- reduce feelings of depression and anxiety
- enhance self-esteem
- improve quality of life.
The Australian Medical Association estimates that 20 to 25 percent of Australian children are either overweight or obese - this is an alarming health trend. The problem is that overweight children are more likely to turn into overweight adults who are often inactive and face a huge range of health problems.
Being active not only keeps children and young people fit and healthy, but provides all kinds of social, emotional and intellectual benefits.
Research shows that children doing regular physical activity can have:
- improved emotional wellbeing - helps young children feel more confident, happy and relaxed, with improved self-esteem and self-concept
- improved health - encourages healthy growth and development of children's bodies, and similar benefits of physically active adults
- improved mental health - improves concentration skills and ability to manage anxiety and stress
- enhanced social skills - develops skills such as cooperation and teamwork, and a great way to have fun, meet new people and develop friendships
- increased capacity for learning and productivity - active children are generally more motivated and better organised than children who are inactive, and physical activity has direct links to improved learning outcomes
- a more positive school environment - active students are generally less aggressive and experience fewer discipline problems
- a reduction in anti-social behaviour - active children are less likely to smoke, use illicit drugs or be involved in criminal activity.
Related information
Last updated: 18 August 2020
Do you feel totally drained after a long day? Maybe you feel so stressed out that you think you don’t have the energy to face another day in your life. Life in this century is extremely hectic, tiring and stressful for a good number of people. It could empty you of physical and mental strength.
Our lives are so busy that most of us have forgotten how important it is to set apart time for fun, leisure, and recreation. You need to understand the importance of balancing your life with work and recreational activities.
Leisure time activities can include playing an indoor game, listening to music, taking a walk in the park, playing with your children or pets, social dancing, aerobics or a work-out in the gym. Engaging yourself in some kind of recreational activity that excites you is the best way to bring down unwanted worries, tensions, and stress and you feel happier and healthier. What are some of the major benefits of recreational activities?
Stronger bonds with family
There are many activities that a family can enjoy doing together on a daily basis. It could be anything like a board game, or table tennis that you play indoors, or outdoor games like badminton, or volleyball or watching a movie, or a walk or jog in the park or playing with pets. Setting apart time to engage in leisure time activities with your family is one of the best ways to bring down stress and unwanted worries. This also builds stronger bonds among the members of the family. The care, attention, and security that you get within your family will help you decide how happy you are. This will, in turn, add to your overall health and well-being.
Reduced levels of anxiety and stress
Having a calm and clear mind is important for any person to function normally. Your mental well-being decides on how well you perform each day and how successful you are. People who continue to work like a machine each and every day with no recreational activities are likely to be stressed and drained out in no time and this will stop them from achieving their plans and goals. Engaging in recreational activities with your friends and loved ones on a regular basis will bring down tensions and stress and help you maintain a proper balance in your lives.
Makes you healthy and fit
Engaging in recreational activities like a walk, jog, aerobics, a favorite sport, dance or regular workouts on a daily basis helps you stay physically strong, fit and healthy. This is good for removing sluggishness, prevents unwanted diseases, gives you better levels of concentration and helps you stay focused. Your blood results are likely to stay within the normal range and you can cut down on the number of visits to your doctor.
Better levels of motivation and self-esteem
Participating in leisure time activities on a regular basis not just helps you stay focused and happy. It improves your level of confidence and self-esteem. You feel strongly motivated to perform to the best of your ability.
Quality of your life
Recreational and leisure time activities help you to attain a proper balance in your lives. This brings about a level of contentment in your life and you feel totally free of unwanted worries and stress. This, in turn, helps a person to perform better and be successful. Thus the overall quality of your life is improved.
Increased levels of productivity ensuring successful lives
Participating in recreational or leisure time activities on a regular basis gives a person a better level of confidence, good memory, emotional and mental stability, optimism, excellent decision-making skills, and independence. It’s highly unlikely that they suffer from tension, worries, anxiety, stress, confusion, or anger.
This will increase their level of performance which adds to their productivity and fruitfulness. They are sure to be successful in their lives. Staying healthy and fit ensures that an employee attends office without having to take leaves on account of falling sick. This, in turn, will add to the success and growth of a business or organization.
All work and no play will surely make you dull, boring and unproductive. Even if we have set apart a time for leisure in our day to day lives, most of the time it gets pushed to a day off from work. You need to maintain a perfect balance between work, recreational activities and rest to be physically and mentally fit and to be fruitful and successful in life.