Leisure Sports lead the Healthy World

Thisstudyispositionedwithintheleisuresportscontexttorevealthehistoryandcurrentsituationaboutdevelopmentofleisuresports.LeisuresportsorsportparticipationwasregardedasausefulwayforChronicDiseasePreventionandhealthpromotion,andactionshavebeentakenworldwide.DirectionschangingorshifthasleadingtodevelopmentofleisuresportsinChina.

Chineseleisuresports;healthcrisis;healthpromotion;directionsandtrends

1 TheBackground of Modern Health Crisis

There have been many serious plagues in human history and almost destroyed the human society. Since modern science, many diseases have been a hindrance to human progress even though the plague has been suppressed by modern science. In the 21stcentury, the so-called modern civilization disease has been lingering. With the development of science and technology, machines have replaced handwork . The natural system has lost the balance because of the over-exploitation. The irregular lifestyle, the unhealthy diet, and the lack of exercise are becoming the murderer for human being’s health. The incidence of diseases, such as metal illness, brain vascular disease, cardiovascular disease, diabetes, cancer, and dementia, has increased. The crisis of human health face has reappeared.

According to the World Health Organization in a research report on 2015, around 400 million people worldwide have mental illness, and forecast that the depression, the dementia praecox, and the intelligence degenerative mental illness will become the second-biggest crisis of human health, behind the cardiovascular diseases, in next 20 years. In 2013, the World Health Organization released data showed that cardiovascular disease was the main reason of death in the world, three of the world’s 10 deaths are caused by cardiovascular disease, and about one of every 10 adults is diabetic. These modern civilizations, though not as medieval plague, have been destroyed by human life. But the human life is swallowed by the modern civilization disease, like the Boiling Frog, and even more than the plague has ever been.

What should human being do about the modern civilization diseases? How do governments, societies, and the people to respond the modern civilization diseases? These two questions have become the serious problems in the world of the century.

TheUS Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) releasedHealthyPeople1990:NationalHealthPromotionandDiseasePrevention,HealthyPeople2000:NationalHealthPromotionandDiseasePrevention,HealthyPeople2010:UnderstandingandImprovingHealth, in 1980, 1991, and 2000. DHHS set another 10-year national objectives for improving the health of all Americans,HealthyPeople2020. America is the top power of the world,HealthyPeople2020 is to build a a society that all American citizens can live healthily. The first objective is to determine the priority areas for national health promotion. The overall goal is: to avoid preventable diseases, disability, harm, and premature deaths; and then achieve the health fairness, to eliminate differences, and to promote the health of various types of people; to create a social and natural environment for all citizens; to improve the quality of life and promote health in all stages.

In 2012, theUK Department of Health released the newPhysicalActivitiesGuidelines. And for the first time, emphasis on the importance of all age groups to participate in sport activities. Not only update the guidelines for children and adults, but they also set guidelines for infants and older people. Canadian Society for Exercise Physiology (CSEP) also released the new version of 2011CanadianPhysicalActivitiesGuidelines. Australia published thePhysicalActivitiesforOlderPeople, based on theAustralianPhysicalActivitiesGuidelinesforAdults. In 2013, the New Zealand Health Ministry released theGuidelinesonPhysicalActivityforOlderPeople(aged65yearsandover). Japanese Ministry of Health, Labour, an Welfare, released a campaign to improve national health——the 21stCentury Healthy Japan Plan.

Even though the level of economic development has a greater gap comparing with the developed countries, the developing countries are also work well at improving national health. Many developing countries have published a sires of polices about improving health by physical activities. China, for example, in 1995 the government published the firstNationalFitnessPlan1995-2010, raised national fitness to national strategy on 2014, and Chinese government published “HealthyChina2030”StrategicPlanon December 2016 made the national health as a priority to develop the country. For the first time put forward that made people’s health as the center instead of disease control, to build and improve the health education system, to enhance the national health literacy, and to promote the cooperation of national fitness and national health, as one of the vital policies for China’s future development.

2 Leisure Sports Promote the Health

There is a Chinese saying,“ the most brilliant doctor teaches building strength to prevent diseases”. But how to prevent diseases? So leisure sports are the importance forces to promote human health.

Since the second half of the 20thcentury, as individuals have more money and free time, the needs of human’s life quality increased, then leisure becomes the main phenomenon of post-industrial society. Leisure is usually a two-way thing: to eliminate physical fatigue and restore the balance; to get the spiritual comfort. Sport is one of the leisure. The culture of games is the foundation and the important source of the modern leisure sports.

Since the 21stcentury, leisure sports have become more and more popular, and also an important method to against modern civilization diseases. Not only the sports, such as golf, bowing, tennis, table tennis, badminton, football, and basketball, are entering public leisure. But also the challenging leisure sports, such as shooting, archery, canoeing, fencing, trampoline, gliding, climbing, and surfing, are a new way of enjoying leisure . Figure 2 shows the most popular leisure sports in China, and these sports attractive more than 200 million people to participate in exercises, and they are becoming the main method to protect health from the diseases.

According to the data of American Heart Association, the American death rates of heart disease and stroke have fallen 30% since 1999.

Evidence and cases prove that, leisure sports use a more relaxedway to comfort the mind, to strength the body, and to prevent from the chronic diseases, such as, obesity, diabetes, and cardiovascular diseases. Leisure sports also improve participants'’ breathing system, blood circulation, and mental easing, boosting the sleep quality, improving metabolic function, and slowing the effects of aging. The idea of leisure sports could become the force to promote health and prevent the disease, which is accepted by more and more scholars and people around the world.

3 The Direction and Trends of the Leisure Sport and Healthy World

Standing in front of the 21stcentury, observing the transformation and development of human life, there are three shifts show the new outlook for leisure sports. The first shift, changing the direction of achieving the life value. The second shift, changing the direction of leisure sports in free time. The third shift, changing the negative attitude to the positive attitude of leisure sports. Leisure sports as an era force of leading and promoting human health, has entered the sight of people. Leisure sports have become the development trend of the modern society, as a new lifestyle and cultural phenomenon.

According to the related reports,he sports industry occupied over 2% of the whole GDP in the developed countries, but the only 0.6% of the whole GDP in China. The increase value of China’s sports industry and GDP has been rising steadily since 2011. The Chinese government has increased the strength of improving national health in recent years. For the first time, making the national developing strategy of healthy development, and treated national fitness as one of the highest goals on national development. In this strategy, the idea and the implementation of leisure fitness have become the most important parts. In the meantime, it’s a great way to make the healthy lifestyle, the ecological environment, and the economic development pattern.

From sports games to Olympic games, and then from Olympic games to leisure sports, human movements are changing dramatically. The significant difference between leisure sports and traditional sports is that people are fascinated by the wonders and greatness of nature when they are feeling happy from outdoor exercises. The leisure sports, such like Skateboarding, climbing, surfing, cycling, etc., are the process of people returning to nature, seeking for balance, and getting healthy from physical and psychological. This is where leisure sports lead to the direction and trends of the healthy world.

That’s exactly how the WLSA is designed to adapt to the idea and the trends. Our goal is to engage the leisure sports in the world, and let more people to know the idea of leisure sports, to participate in the leisure sports, to make leisure science developing sustainably. Through the leisure sports academic communication, it is to provide an international plat for experts and scholars to show the new achievements, to show the development of the sports industry and promote innovation, to improve the sports industry market through the sports industry communication.

李相如，世界休闲体育协会主席，首都体育学院教授。

首都体育学院，北京 100191 Capital University of Physical Education and Sports, Beijing 100191

2017-04-16

2017-05-09

Leisure Sports lead the Healthy World

Xiangru Li