Leisure, Health and Well-Being

Abstract

This paper provides an overview of the scientific evidence available on the impact of leisure directly on individual health and well-being and indirectly on health through its influence on the work, interpersonal relationship and family domains of life. The growth of time pressure, stress, and sedentary lifestyles associated with contemporary changes in work and the dominant role of technology in people's lives are contributing to unhealthy lifestyles and growing demands on health care systems. The potential contributions of leisure to health are being viewed increasingly from a public and population health perspective—a view that health is largely controllable and determined by people's actions. Increasingly, leisure is viewed to be the domain of lifestyle where people have greatest control and consequently it is seen an important resource for health. Evidence suggests that leisure viewed as discretionary behavior outside of work and other obligations can positively influence physical, psychological and spiritual health. Leisure choices and activities also can have neutral or negative impacts and displace behaviors that contribute to health and well-being. The factors that allow leisure opportunities and behavior to positively contribute to health have been the subject of growing research efforts in many western countries and increasingly in other regions of the world.

Keywords:

• leisure
• health benefits
• health risks
• psychological well-being
• physical health
• social psychology
• culture