- Aug 1, 2022
- 11 min read

Playing is important for human health

Why is playing important for children and adults?

Playing is important for human health. It helps us stay fit, healthy and happy. Playtime is essential for children’s development. Playing isimportant for our mental health. Playing is important for physical health. Playing is important for social health. Playing is important for emotional health. Playing is important for spiritual health.

Playing is important for cognitive health. Playing is important for academic health. Playing is important for occupational health. Playing is important for personal health. Are you an adult who’s always telling your kids to stop playing video games and go outside? Well, you might want to rethink that. Playing is important for human health, according to a new study from the National Library of Medicine. The study found that children who play outside have higher levels of Vitamin D, which is important for bone health. So don’t feel guilty about letting your kids play for a little while longer. The benefits are worth it! A child consciously or unconsciously keeps himself engaged in playing all the time. Be he is sitting alone or with a group of other kindergartens, he always stays active with some or other activities. Do you know why it is so? Why do children stay so active? Why do they stay happier and more energetic always as well?

The answer to all these questions is playing. In early childhood, when there is no responsibility for racing with others and no need of completing some or other tasks, these children spend their whole day playing with eachother. This playing instinct is just not within children, it is present within every human body. Just the thing is, under the pressure of so many responsibilities and the participation in the race of being first, the later childhood and adulthood forget about the need of playing. Playing for everyone is very important. It keeps them active and brings in a lot of fun and happy moments in the day. Besides, playing usually team is required and this builds in them a sense of socialism and brotherhood. Apart from these aspects, playing brings various developments in the cognitive skills, thinking ability, emotional well-being, and creativity of children and adults. It also acts as a refreshment for adults and teens, who takes a break from their busy lifestyle to enjoy.

Benefits of playing

Having so much about how playing is essential for both adults and children, now lets us know about the various benefits playing provides for both of these groups of people.

For children

Usually, children don’t need a special time to play; they can play the whole day long. They stay engaged in learning one thing or another while playing the whole day. But playing doesn’t stop there while playing on their own, children learns what is in front of them. But if parents and adults plan a play routine for the children then it is more beneficial. Through specially planned play routines, children can be made to develop a variety of skills. Their brains can be stimulated by the games they are made to play. This not only brings in the physical development of the children but also helps in promoting their emotional and mental growth. Besides these, there are also various other benefits of playing for children. Let us look at each of them carefully.

Enhances physical fitness

Children who tend to keep moving and playing are the ones who are very active. Through play, without realizing children enhances their physical body fitness. They strengthen their bones and muscles and build better connectivity between their nerves and brains. Besides, playing makes the body active and enhances the effectiveness of the immune system. Apart from these, a longtime of activity for children helps in increasing their cardio-vascular functioning, developing greater physical and emotional balance, sharpening their reflexes, and also improving their gross motor skills. Also, playing improves their reaction time. This is a great advantage in life. A better reaction time will help them in solving major life problems in time and make the right call for the right moment.

Brings in emotional development

Playing is an excellent guide for teaching children a lot of emotional behaviors. While playing in groups they learn how to care for others, how to negotiate and come to common terms, how to share things with others and how to solve various conflicts. The more the playtime children get, the more they learn life-leading lessons from them. Even for parents, it is a teacher. When observing kids playing, if parents interrupt and ask them questions about how they are feeling and try to engage with them through play. Then this helps in building a better understanding and caring environment between them. Children also start to understand their parents and become more open to them about their feelings.

Helps to bring in cognitive development

Cognitive development refers to the healthy development of the brain. Children while playing on their own, tries to build out their methods for playing. In doing so they try to follow their ways and modify them as per their need. This makes the children think more and adjust according to the need of the time and situation without the interference of parents and other adults. While doing the process, they learn to solve problems, gain knowledge and build relationships with others. Overall it leads to the healthy strengthening and build-up of neural connectivity. That in long run help them in thinking clearly.

Builds imagination and creativity

Playing is just not enjoyable for kids, it also builds pathways for imagination and creativity. While playing children themselves use symbolic to enhance their playing experience. They start to imagine things as normal items and play with them. This enhances their creativity and boosts their confidence. Besides, if adults also interfere in their playing and make them play with something that needs thinking, then children extend their imagination and try to work out solutions for the given problems. Hence, it helps them develop skills that will help them in the future in navigating their lives. Having known how playing helps in bringing holistic development of children, as a parent you should try to make play schedules for your children. If you want to motivate your child towards a particular direction for their future career, you can make them learn about it through games. Games are not just for the creative, emotional, social, and physical development of children, they can also bring in their paths for career development in the future. So, make sure you plan the games properly and be careful with your kids to help them learn better and develop more. To help parents with the same, now there are available various kindergarten schools which are also known as play schools. The name itself of the school suggests what children are made to do there. Through proper playing and games, they are made to learn the alphabet, numbers, and various other skills. At present, there is so much boost in this field that there is now competition market for the best play school for children. So, as a parent make sure to get full details about the play school you are looking for and then send your kids in there for their holistic development.

For adults

As is playing a necessity for children, same it is for adults. Adults go through a hectic life throughout their days. They need to keep working tirelessly towards the aim of achieving their targets. Sometimes, the workload becomes so heavy that it starts developing emotional, mental, and social issues. The frustration and impatience rise to an extreme level. This not only affects their personal life but also their professional lives. Hence, to help in these situations is present playing. Playing a variety of games on the weekends or holidays is considered to be a major productivity booster. Many companies understand the value of this and thus arrange a play session every week for their employees and its family as well. Picnics, recreation, and games are a part of such organizations. These build understanding among the employees and make them feel friendly with each other as well. Thus, overall the effectiveness of the employees and their health both benefited. Having seen so much in brief about the ways playing can help an adult. Now let us look at them more properly. So, the following are given how an adult needs playing as well to lead his life.

Get more ambitious

Playing games makes you feel confident about yourself. It boosts your self-esteem and makes you understand your value. Every time you win games with certain points, the next time you feel like playing and winning with some more extra.

This feeling of achieving extra goes beyond your games and becomes a part of your life. Then in life also you start setting higher goals. You plan you bring betterment in whatever you are doing. And thus, in this process of expecting more from your life, you become quite ambitious.

Feel more relaxed

Playing is a relaxing exercise as well. While playing you do a lot of things that you might have never done before. This action of completing something unexpected brings a feeling of victory to you. Besides, it releases happy hormones called endorphins. These will not just boost your mood but also boost your day.

Apart from these, playing outdoor games make you feel tired. This tiredness reduces your chances of getting engaged in something unnecessary and unuseful. Instead will provide you with better sleep and a happy and energetic morning. So, playing is overall a booster for your effective day ahead.

Boosts brain functioning

We all know that gaming is quite a challenging task. While you play some indoor or outdoor game and face a challenging situation, your brain tends you think harder to solve it at the moment. Unless you solve that issue you won’t be able to proceed.

With the habit of solving such challenges in short periods, you also learn to solve life problems with the same efficiency and time. This enhances your reaction time to any incident and helps you think clearly. So, with a boost in brain activity, playing improves a lot in your lifestyle.

The effectiveness of relationships increase

Playing never happens alone unless you are playing an indoor video game. So, every time you play a board game or some outdoor game, you play in teams. Playing in teams makes you bond better with your teammates. It builds a feeling of trust and loyalty among teammates.

Usually, you play with people you know, like your colleagues, family members or your friends. With a game, you understand each other and learn about each other better. This helps you in bonding with each other better. And thus in doing so, you end up enhancing the effectiveness of your relationship.

How can inactive and sedentary life affect you?

Same as playing and staying active pose so many benefits both for the adults and the children. Similarly, leading a sedentary lifestyle will make your life a lot more painful. The word painful doesn’t just imply physical pain, but also mental, emotional, psychological, and social pain.

A sedentary lifestyle will make you obese, invite several unhealthy diseases in your body and make you feel inactive and uninterested in everything you will try to do. Your efficiency will decrease, your work will suffer, and hence will suffer your personal and professional life. So, what should you do? How should you recover? The simplest answer to this question is through being active and engaging in multiple physical activities.

Some of the easy and enjoyable physical activities and games that you can start playing to improve your health and life are mentioned below. You can enjoy them without much effort, just with little patience and interest.

● Do rope jumping

● Go for swimming

● Try flying kite

● Go for trekking or mountain climbing

● If you have a cute little puppy then play Frisbee with it

● Perform cycling in the greenery of the early morning

● Go fishing with family and friends

● Play board games with family and friends

Besides, with these games and outings, you can try anything that makes you feel elated. This engagement of yours with something that you enjoy doing will make you active, happy, and effective throughout your lifetime. So, don’t wait just grab your group and start doing your favorite activities.

Conclusion

Playing is an essential part of every human being’s life: {National Library of Medicine (NLM) is a world-renowned, non-profit organization that supports and provides access to health information} It is a part of our lives that can make us feel happy and energetic. It brings along a variety of lessons that helps us in making quick decisions, being confident and working efficiently. As children need playing to keep themselves entertained and busy, same adults also need playing to make themselves free from worldly burdens and take a break.

Small play breaks in life are real requirements. They boost your journey towards a better self and make you happy in everything you do. So, there is rarely anything that will stop you from playing. Its multiple benefits will make your life worthy and make you feel energetic throughout your day. So, what are you waiting for? Take some time out from your busy schedule and enjoy the day with your family and friends by playing various games.