Is Too Much Leisure Time Unhealthy?

[Gardenlover]

Are idle hands really the devils workshop?

Is there such a thing as too much leisure time? Can idleness affect your overall health?

 

[Keesha]

In my opinion, too much leisure time isn’t healthy.
Idle hands leaves too much time for the mind to wander and unfortunately the mind can be self destructive. Doing constructive things and having a purpose is a healthier alternative.

 

[Gary O']

Damn straight
Been livin' in town the last six months
feeling decrepit
The almost five years previous at the cabin, no time to get lazy, chopped wood for winter
That kept me fit



goin' back to live there in late spring

town literally and spiritually makes me sick

 

[DaveA]

Does anyone ever consider that for some folks, as they age, the choice is not between leisure and
frenetically working from morning to night, it's between being limited to leisure or being dead.

Still a choice, to some degree, but we''ll leave suicide out of the discussion. Everyone, at some certain age, can't run 10 miles and lift weights every morning, and not always because they didn't "try". If you can, bless you, but for many, that isn't the choice that they have to make.

Before we look down on these poor folks, consider that without warning, you too may slide into the need for a walker or wheelchair due to something beyond your control. We don't all "move on" in the manner that we'd like. For many the journey becomes long and agonizing.

 

[Ruth n Jersey]

I think that as long as you enjoy your leisure time then there is no such thing as to much. If you are the type who sits in a chair all day and dwells on the past and worries about the future then it's time to get moving and find something to do that interests you.

I have a tendency to create to many projects some of which I'm not physically able to do at my age which can be stressful. You have to be realistic and find a balance. I'm working on it.

 

[Aunt Bea]

"That the Devil finds work for idle hands to do is probably true. But there is a profound difference between leisure and idleness." - Henry Ford

 

[retiredtraveler]

".....The almost five years previous at the cabin, no time to get lazy, chopped wood for winter
That kept me fit...goin' back to live there in late spring
town literally and spiritually makes me sick

Your comment just made me think of a line from the old Redford film "Jeremiah Johnson".

Del Gue:
Jeremiah, maybe you best go down to a town, get outta these mountains.
Jeremiah Johnson:
I've been to a town Del.

 

[JustBonee]

In my opinion, too much leisure time isn’t healthy.
Idle hands leaves too much time for the mind to wander and unfortunately the mind can be self destructive. Doing constructive things and having a purpose is a healthier alternative.

So true.
Leisure time is a good time for finding a new project/hobby ... something enjoyable.

 

[rgp]

I think it has a profound negative effect on the psyche when one can no longer fill the hours with "something" they enjoy. Talking to others, I recommend [for example] "not" retiring , unless they have "something" to do !

I notice a difference in myself since I stopped traveling,[good weather] and garage projects [bad weather]. Just about four years now of "nothing" is driving me nutz........