AN ASSESSMENT OF UNDERGRADUATE STUDENTS’ PERCEPTION ON THE IMPORTANCE OF RECREATION AND LEISURE TO HEALTHFUL LIVING
CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
1.1 BACKGROUND OF STUDY
Ideally, recreation is a bulwark of democracy, because in leisure-time pursuits, it is possible for a person to choose his activity as a free individual. Leisure
time activity is more frequently accomplished within a brief span of time.
Generally, one can engage in many different sorts of leisure activities, according to inclination and occasion. In this realm, the individual is his own master; he
is free to determine the use of his time as he wills.
The values to be realized in recreation are not the same as in other forms of conduct. The values of personal uniqueness and individual variability are
particularly central in the life of leisure. Recreation thus provides unique opportunities for both individual differentiation and aesthetic creativity.
According to Gray (1971), recreation is an emotional function within an individual human being that flows from a feeling of well being and satisfaction. It is
characterized by feeling of mastery, achievement, exhilaration, acceptance, success, personal worth and pleasure. It reinforces a positive self image.
Recreation is a response to aesthetic experience, achievement of personal goals or positive feedback from others.
What Gray (1971) was saying is that recreation goes beyond the activities engaged in during our leisure times but the erects of the activities thus engaged in.
The contribution of recreation are the life activities that comprises all of our hours not spent in work and other routine responsibilities.
Charles Butcher (1975) defines recreation as “that field of endeavor concerned with those socially acceptable and worthwhile activities in which a person voluntarily participates during leisure hours and through which he or she may better develop physically, mentally, emotionally and socially”. It is important to note that certain forms of recreation contribute to emotional stability by according rest, relaxation and creative activity. Others give tone to
the body by a healthful stimulation of the nerve centres. These values of recreation apply to both children and adults.
Miller and Burt (1972:271) contend that people who do not exercise are more likely to suer
from coronary heart disease, diabetes, duodenal ulcer and low back pains than active person who do exercises.
Robert B. Salter (1970) asserts that “there is no specific therapeutic drug available (as yet) that will accelerate the normal healing of injured musculoskeletal
tissues, or that will make a weak muscle stronger, a lax ligament tighter, a sti
joint mobile or a deformed bone straight as exercise activities”. Medical experts and authorities agrees to the importance of exercise to human development by testifying that big muscle activity stimulates growth and is essential for the growing child and that athletics and sports contribute to the proper development of the vital organs.
Recreation, therefore, should be regarded as both a means to an end and an end in itself. In which case, both the process and product of recreation experiences are recognized.
