All work and no play makes Jack. . . sick.  At least according to Dr. E. Christine Moll, a leisure expert, professional counselor, and professor of counseling and human services at Canisius College in Buffalo, New York.

Leisure time or “play” is as important as exercise, Dr. Moll explains: ”It airs out our brain. It renews our spirit. It gives us clarity of thought. It’s a benefit to our blood pressure. It gives us life satisfaction. For all the dimensions of our lives: our physical, mental, spiritual and cognitive health, leisure time should be a necessity not a luxury.”

Moll defines leisure as just about anything that brings personal enjoyment, providing individuals an opportunity to recharge. “Work is the single activity we do most in our lifetimes. We work more than we sleep or eat. Our health and medicine are so much more improved than they were a century ago but we’re going to wipe ourselves out because we’re just working, working, working.”

David L. Farrugia, PhD, chair of the Counseling and Human Services Department at Canisius and also a professional counselor, notes that many patients see him after they visit an internal medicine doctor. Often, according to Dr. Farrugia, stress is to blame. ”Physiologically, the body is able to adapt and function at high levels of stress but eventually it begins to take its toll on a person’s mental and physical health.”

Known as General Adaptive Syndrome (GAS), a term first coined in the 1930s, this refers to the consequence of the failure of an organism – human or animal – to respond appropriately to emotional or physical threats, whether actual or imagined. Hans Selye, MD, pioneered research in this field and is known as the “father of the stress field.”

According to a study done by Summer M. Reiner under the supervision of Moll: “Findings show that people who nurture leisure activities throughout their lives have a much healthier outlook physically, mentally, emotionally, socially and in their sense of selves. Extra-curricular activities for school-aged children contribute a lot towards their development.”

The results of Reiner’s research was published in Counseling Today Magazine.