The term 'leisure' derives from the Latin 'licere', meaning "to be permitted", and is defined in the modern dictionary as "freedom from occupation, employment, or engagement". Leisure has meant different things in different cultures. However, no matter how one tries to modify the concept of leisure, 'time' is its essence. Leisure, can no more be divorced from the element of 'time' than it can be completely separated from the function of 'work'. Leisure can be viewed as 'no work behaviour in which people engage during free time. Of all he values that the medical authorities and educators claim for the recreational use of leisure none is mentioned more frequently than its potential for helping attain sound health, if we participate in it sensibly. If we use it well, leisure can help to keep us on an even mental keel. We can get temporary relief from our tensions, anxieties, frustrations, if we can in our leisure, establish a world apart from ourselves and this helps us in dealing with our problems without coming apart at the seams. We generally presume that stress is a causative factor in health related problem. Further, the leisure phenomenon can counter the adverse impact of stress on health. It is for this reason, that we need to look carefully at the 'leisure-health-stress' linkage.
