Recreation in the social isolation process

Asst. Prof. Dr. Ali Selman Özdemir, program specialist from the School of Physical Education and Sports at Cyprus International University (CIU), expressed that the importance of spending time, enjoying this time or having a hobby has increased due to the COVID-19 pandemic and added that “ignoring the calls made by the authorities to stay at home, is arbitrarily out at the expense of risking their own lives as well as other people’s lives and this behavior revealed our leisure-time culture and lack of education on this subject”.

It was underlined that people can use this period as a good opportunity to spare time for themselves and with their loved ones as well as creating time for physical, social, cultural, artistic, sports, health or educational activities. This is a brief definition of recreation which is quite important during this period.

Comparing recreation to daily leisure time habits, it can be said that it is more of activities that require organization, have social results and that “we rest, have fun and contribute to our development in this way,” said Özdemir.

Many activities can be done during this period, said Özdemir and added “we can read the books we did not find to read before, do research on the topics we are interested in, play word, memory, logic and intelligence games, return to our inner world by doing yoga and meditation, follow exercise programs, or get a new hobby. We can also try cooking new dishes from different cuisines, work on handcrafts, or improve our manual skills, start learning to play an instrument, write, paint, or improve ourselves in areas through certified online courses."

Expressing that it is also important to protect our mental health as much as our body, Özdemir reminded that “the physicians’ and experts' warnings on keeping our immune system strong is also related to having proper and balanced nutrition as well as adequate sleep, morale, motivation, mental relaxation, and renewal.”