CHAPTER ONE
1.1 BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY
Stress at work is graduallybecoming global and a worrisome phenomenon, as it affects all professions the academic inclusive. According to oxford learner’s dictionary stress is something that causes a strain or tension; it could be mental or emotional strain resulting from adverse or demanding circumstances. Thus, job stress or occupational stress is defined as the discrepancy between environmental demand (stressors) and individual capacities to fill these demands (Topper, 2007).
The task for the Nigerian university of being capable of producing the much needed professional manpower required by the nation, have placed great challenges on the academic staff which may likely cause stress especially if they are dissatisfied in the course of carrying out their duties.
Nigeria as a developing country is evidently full of life threatening, harmful and challenging situations, which are stressful to peoples’ existence and well-being, some of these include economic recession and instability, religious intolerance and insecurity, the menace of armed robbery and political tugery, driving on very poorly maintained roads and highways. The University lecturers as citizens of the country experience all these phenomena along the professional and personal concerns related to their jobs. Thus, the entire Nigerian University communities have not been immuned from the emerging forces of stress in the country.
Though, University teaching has traditionally been regarded as a low stress occupation because, academics enjoyed long tenure, light work load, flexibility, overseas trips for study and/or conference purposes and the freedom to pursue their own research interests. During the past fifteen to twenty years many of these advantages seems to have been eroded in Nigerian Universities, and thus exposing university lecturers to such levels of stress that could force them to deviate from normal functioning.
Stress often leads to high dissatisfaction among staff, burn out, poor work performance and less effective interpersonal relationship at work. Man must be in balance equilibrium for smooth performance of movement and activities. The human body when a bit fatigued gets tired and desires to relax and recreate. Every free activity has elements of joy and satisfaction; since our body wants enjoyment we can derive fun, joy and pleasure from recreational activities. Since recreation is a form of physical activity that focuses not just on physical activity but also on nurturing mental health and has attracted growing attention from researchers, today researchers have observed that participation in recreational activities have psychological relieving effects. (Pearson, 1998)
Recreational sports are those activities done during leisure time where the primary purpose of the activity is participation with the related goals of improved physical fitness, fun and social involvement often pertinent. Recreational sports are often perceived as being less stressful both physically and mentally on participants.
People enjoy intangible benefits when they participate in recreational activities such as improved morale and productivity, quality of life, reduces stress and mental health problems thereby enhancing job performance, mental and physical health. The Importance of participation in recreation and demands of it has continued to gain momentum and popularity as such many entertainment centers, hotels, sport centers around Uyo metropolis have attempted to meet this demands by providing gyms, diverse leisure and recreational activities.
Recreational programmes are long term organizational activities created to enhance the implementation of organizational practices and individual behaviour conducive to maintaining or improving staff psychological, mental and social wellbeing likewise participation in recreational sports (Wolfe & Parker, 1994). Many researchers have tried to show a central play of recreational programs. Positive results were recorded when people participated in such programs, improved fitness levels, reduced health cost and employees satisfaction (Fielding, 1994) besides that; (Connors, 1992) found that organisations enjoyed other benefits such as improved staff morale, health and productivity, attention and retention and improved image for retention.
Asides the numerous benefits of participation in recreational sports it has also proven to be an effective stress management strategy. Participants who participated in physical activities had higher level of physical health and wellbeing (Iwasaki, Zuzanek, &Mannell, 2001). These participants also had lower level of chronic stress, life stress events and work related stress thereby establishing a relationship between participation in recreational sports and perceived stress levels.
