The Importance Of Recreation On Youth

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Recreation is defined in the dictionary as “the process of giving new life to something, of refreshing something, or of restoring something.” Bruno Hans Geba - a psychotherapist, physiotherapist/trainer, professor, philosopher and author – once stated that the something it is referring to is, of course, “the whole person.” It is an important part of everyone’s life, especially that of youths. It offers them positive, healthy, and constructive activities that can make a difference in their life. Recreation plays an important part in youth development as it allows young people to take advantage of life’s opportunities and effectively “meet its tests through a coordinated, progressive series of activities and experiences” (Harrah, n. d., para. 1). Recreation benefits youths in many ways; these being physically, mentally and socially. One way that recreation benefits youths physically is by providing them with a healthy lifestyle. According to Bozeman et al. (2014, p. 74), people who take part in outdoor recreation are excessively in good health, and people in good health excessively partake in outdoor recreation. They revealed that the rise in physical inactivity among Americans is closely linked to the rise in heart disease, type 2 diabetes, colon cancer, breast cancer, and higher mortality rates. Recreational activities reduce obesity, which continues to be a major health concern closely linked to physical inactivity rather than to the increase in calorie intake

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