Ways Students Can Expand Their Leisure Time

A student’s life is often hectic for moving from class to class, absorbing new information, coursework, and preparing for examinations is a lot to handle. Because of this, leisure time is important to aid stress. Leisure time for a student should be treasured and used wisely. However, most students in today’s society spend their free time indulging in activities that are harmful to their well-being such as ingesting alcohol and drugs but that is not how it’s meant to be used. Leisure time instead should be used to decompress using meaningful but still relaxing activities. Leisure time should contribute to a student’s physical health, imaginativity, and relaxation, for they will contribute to a more wholesome, happy student.

Leisure time should contribute to a student’s physical health for it will contribute to a more wholesome, happy student. Given that most classes involve sedentary activities, a student should spend their time getting their bodies active through exercise and other physical activities. Leisure time can be used as a way to look after one’s health. When a student is in better physical shape, their concentration, energy levels and participation in class can increase. Single sessions of long-term participation in physical activity have been found to improve cognitive performance and brain health. (https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK201501/) Children who participate in vigorous- or moderate-intensity physical activity benefit the most.

Most students sit in class and medical research shows that these prolonged sessions of unadulterated sitting have dangerous effects on the body’s health, although if one exercises these negative consequences can be reversed. Adison Marquez suggests that mathematics and reading are the academic topics that are most influenced by physical activity. These topics depend on efficient and effective executive function, which have been linked to physical activity. Exercise can include a multitude of things such as running, swimming, martial arts, bike riding, and just the slightest bit of weightlifting, but not too much. Sports are also an excellent choice in this regard. People who enjoy their workouts reap more mental benefits from their exercises including lower stress levels and a decreased risk of depression.For those who do not, it may go the other way. With so many options and benefits, one can and should work their body out while having fun at the same time. Thus, leisure time should contribute to a student’s physical health, for it will contribute to a more wholesome, happy student.

Aside from physical activity, students should also be involved in art during their leisure time, for it will also contribute to a more wholesome, happy student. This activity is vital, especially for those students studying scientific courses. They should practice art because art is critical to developing one’s creativity. Creativity is of an importance because it can allow the brain to grow. Creative activities also encourage positive relationships that can support the rapid blooming of synapses. This can lead to the formation of well-rounded personalities, good attachment, high self-esteem, and better mental health. Creativity also assists students to be more critical and original thinkers in their day to day lives. Art is relative to critical thinking since critical thinking is “the use of cognitive or strategy skills that increase the probability of a desirable outcome". (Sternberg, Roediger, and Helpern, 2007). Critical and creative thinking can contribute to a student who invents something, impacts the world in some way, or questions something that has never been questioned before such as a new kind of art.

Art is a good choice for students to expand their leisure time because it is a way of self-expression. Self-expression is vital in giving a student a release from the pressures of everyday life and a student may even discover hidden talents which they may come to make a living out of later in life. Art is held to reflect the inner state of the artist. Self-expression through art is an excellent way to both have fun, and help your mental health. Art could teach a student how to live passionately, for they gain much virtue from drawing, painting, and writing among other arts which they can also use later in life. Picking up art later in life could also help the brain. This proves the saying one is never too old to follow their dreams to be true. Thus, students should be involved in art during their leisure time, for it will contribute to a more wholesome, happy student.

Leisure time should contribute to not only a student’s imaginatively, but also relaxation, for this will contribute to a more wholesome, happy student. Relaxation is important as well, for it brings about the peace that most students cannot find anywhere else. In modern society’s hurried ways, to slow down, even for a few minutes brings peace to a student’s life, for it helps one achieve peace of mind. A student can calm down and see what is crucial in their lives. If one isn’t getting enough time to relax, one may find themselves feeling tense. Thus leisure time gives one the time one needs to calm down and see what they need to do making every attempt to be carried out clearly. This can lead to getting more done every day. Over a course of a long period of time, stress could be released drastically.

Peace is very healthy while carrying on routine activities in a student’s day to day life. Meditation is a practice that would help a lot of students with too much stress to handle themselves. Meditation can help carry one throughout their day in a state of calamity. As few as 10 minutes per day have been proven to help one control stress, decrease anxiety, improve cardiovascular health, and achieve a greater capacity for relaxation. Meditation can help one feel as if they’ve escaped their stress. With mindfulness, one can simply take a moment to process feelings. This can help students not only manage stress, but also keep them from acting out. Because of this, leisure time should contribute to a student’s relaxation, for this will contribute to a more wholesome, happy student.

In order for a student to be happier and wholesome, their physical health, imaginatively, and relaxation should be considered in order for them to use their leisure time wisely. Since schoolwork is more specific and mainly deals with the intellect, students should find activities that are not curriculum based. This should include activities that make them closer to nature. Activities that give them joy and bring them greater understanding not only of the world but also of themselves are also important. Activities that help them to relax for just a little while. Activities that make them happy.