Men spend about five more hours per week in leisure activities like watching TV, playing games and sports, and others.

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Stern and colleagues have found that people with higher educational or occupational attainment, or who engage in leisure activities, appear less demented.

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They love to travel, they engage in various leisure activities and they want to be well and energetic.

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But it turns out that students whose educational costs are paid for entirely by their parents, engage in more leisure activities.

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Over seven years, researchers looked at how often they participated in 13 common leisure activities which were classed as intellectual, physical or social.

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Participants filled out questionnaires about the types and frequency of leisure and physical activities they participated in.

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Golf and swimming are among the leisure activities being offered by Bracknell Forest Council in an attempt to boost its recycling rate.

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It argues that this contravenes part of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child, about participating fully in cultural, artistic, recreational and leisure activities.

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Ms Cush said the council had increased both the range of activities and the number of classes in leisure centres in order to appeal to a much broader range of children.

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Despite the ever-increasing influence of American sports, and other alternative leisure activities, Morris is confident that cricket can have a place in schools and in the spare time of children.

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Modern games sometimes span 10, 20 or 30 hours, and so other, less involved leisure activities might start to take hold, even if the person in question has been a lifelong gamer.

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The series "Man at His Leisure" appeared in the magazine for 15 years, showing the artist's impressions of sporting events and social activities.

CNN: June 21, 2012 -- Updated 1437 GMT (2237 HKT)