Leisure and Pleasure: Healthy, Useful, Pleasant: Why Don’t We Do It?

Abstract

Lifestyle and health seem to be strictly correlated, yet they are still not really associated in our everyday life. One may suppose that well-being is the key to assessing both health and lifestyle and that people are aware of the fact that they themselves can do something about their own health. Thus, why don’t people do what they know they should do?

It has long been established that risk factors of psychosomatic diseases, responsible for the highest death rates, are actually elements of lifestyle. Smoking, alcohol consumption, nutrition, obesity, immobility—to mention but a few—contribute to the formation of many diseases. It is clear now that managing risk factors may have a great impact on health care, economy and society alike. There is no question that leisure could be the easiest and most straightforward way to well-being and hence to health. We have examined whether people are aware of this fact, and what their attitudes towards leisure activity are.

In two consecutive studies, 388 randomly selected laymen, and 512 sports and recreation students, respectively, were asked via a self-created questionnaire about their attitudes and motivations towards leisure activities with an emphasis on physical fitness.

Participants conceptualized well-being as harmony, health/fitness and a quiet and happy life. Of these, health and fitness might be the primary “targets” of leisure. In fact, the majority of the participants preferred sport-related activities as a tool improving well-being, whereas traditional values—for example, health-related activities, spiritual life and successful jobs—remained unnoticed.

Participants were definitive about the necessity of regular leisure activity and looked at it as an enjoyable way to spend free time that improves well-being. The reality, however, is different. Physical activity seems to be startlingly inferior: only 9% of the population walk or hike, and only 7% practise physical exercise regularly. Something is wrong here…