Spelman College Recreation Services consist of activities or experiences carried on within leisure, usually chosen voluntarily by student participants.
Due to the intricacies in present-day society and the ways in which we live, students can benefit from recreational activities, both physically and emotionally. This gets reflected in their physical, emotional and mental health, as well as their behavior and development.
Various studies have shown the importance of recreations on one’s life, specifically in three aspects- physical health, mental health and improving quality of life.
- Physical Health: Recreational activities, especially outdoor, improve one’s health like maintaining lower body fat percentages, lowering blood and cholesterol levels, increasing muscular strength, flexibility, improving muscular endurance, body composition and cardiovascular endurance. Overall, it increases one’s stamina and energy level resulting in more focus for academic activities and has an impact on one’s class attendance and attention, thus leading to improved learning. And, as we all know, “health is wealth”.
- Mental Health: Mental health is essential for overall physical health, and recreational activity helps manage stress. It offers a chance to nurture oneself and provides a sense of balance and self-esteem, which can directly reduce anxiety and depression. It provides a channel for releasing tension and anxiety, thus facilitating emotional stability and resilience. There is also an impact on learning as students can apply what they've been taught in the classroom to recreational activities. Such activities help students to become more self-reliant, empathetic and self-disciplined.
- Improved Quality of Life: Recreational activities help create a balance between academic pressures with physical and mental well-being. They enrich self-expression, self-fulfillment ability, interpersonal skills, techniques and methods of using leisure, physical strength, creative expression, and aesthetic sense. Such attributes have a favorable effect on human beings who have limits in everyday life.