Do We Need Recreation?

Every day, we make decisions about how we spend our time. Of the infinite ways we can spend our time, I believe that most of those ways can be sorted into the three broad categories of Work, Rest, and Recreation.

Naturally, we have to spend some of our time doing the necessary work, and of course, our minds and bodies need adequate rest, but I wonder if the third category, recreation, is also important. I'd like to argue that it is, because I like recreation, but I'm really not sure.

One could argue that there are psychological benefits to recreation, perhaps even essential ones, but I don't know how essential those benefits are. It's possible that we need recreation as much as we need work and rest. Or maybe we don't actually need recreation at all.

Regardless, I think it's important that we spend at least some of our time with recreation, if only for our own enjoyment. Human happiness is important, and recreation makes people happy. I think that's enough reason to fit some recreation into our daily schedules, even if we don't technically need to do it.