We explain what an activity is and specifically what economic, recreational, cultural, aerobic and anaerobic activities are.
What is an activity?
In principle, activity is the condition in which active people and things are found. That is, what is empowered to act, or that is in the process of doing something, is carrying out an activity, that is, it is active. It is in direct opposition to that which is idle, in a state of passivity.
Etymologically, the word activity comes from the Latin activites, derived from activus (“Active”), a term that is made up of the voices actum (“Act”), from the verb agere (“To carry out”) and the suffix -ivus, which conveys a condition. Thus, the activity supposes from its origins the ability to carry out things, to do or to act, while passivity supposes the opposite.
Thus, when we use the term activity, we can be referring essentially to two things:
- The state in which an entity is, when it is acting or doing something. For example: “the printer is in full exercise, you can’t use it yet ”.
- By extension, the work itself that said entity carries out. For example: “Printing so many pages is one exercise very expensive for the company ”.
This word is used in a myriad of different contexts, ranging from everyday language to natural science or psychology. In the latter, for example, activity refers specifically to the set of phenomena of active life, that is, through which an individual is directly related to reality: instincts, will or habits are examples of activities of living beings.
Thus, there are activities of many different types and in many different fields, some of which we will discuss separately below.
Economic activities
In the field of economics, an activity is any action or production process that has the purpose of generating value. This means that whenever we produce a good or a service intended to satisfy some particular need in exchange for monetary remuneration, we are carrying out an economic activity.
Thus, the more economic activities are carried out over a period of time in a given territory, the more robust the local economy will be, that is, the more wealth it will generate and the more complex its network of economic exchange relations will be. In general, these economic activities are classified into three large economic sectors, according to their very nature:
- Primary or extractive sector, in charge of obtaining the raw material from nature itself to start the production process, often by refining that material or applying certain basic transformation dynamics to make it later consumable by other industries. A clear example of the sector is the metallurgical industry, which takes terrestrial minerals and extracts the metal from them.
- Secondary or manufacturing sector, in charge of radically transforming the raw material obtained by the primary sector into articles made for final consumption (or semi-finished for intermediate consumption). An example of this would be a nail factory, which takes the metal sheets from the steel mill and turns them into these little tools for carpentry.
- Tertiary or service sector, in charge of an immense variety of non-productive services (that is, that do not produce goods) but essential for the perpetuity of the production circuit, or for the transport of goods, or the training of labor, etc. An example of this would be both the transport services that take the nails from the factory to the stores, and the stores themselves that sell them to consumers.
Recreational activities
Recreational activities are those whose sole purpose is entertainment or recreation. These types of activities are closely linked to leisure and fun, but also to learning during childhood stages of life: play.
Recreational activities cannot be compulsory, but are adapted to the taste of each person, and can consist of a myriad of different proposals, such as:
- The game, be it physical, sports or video games.
- Sports, specifically his contemplation, like someone who watches football on TV.
- Hobbies, such as in miniature modeling, hobbyist woodworking, etc.
- Hobbiessuch as crosswords, word searches, or recreational reading.
Cultural activities
For their part, cultural activities have to do with the enjoyment of culture, that is, with the enjoyment or dissemination of social, religious, idiosyncratic, artistic or identity values of a people.
Culture is a very broad concept, in which there is room for everything from art and gastronomy to folklore and religion, and practically all human activities have a margin of cultural importance; but some of them are specifically directed to the context of the humanities and the cultivation of the spirit, such as:
- Exhibitions in museums and libraries, or installations in cultural centers.
- Gastronomic fairs and events for the enjoyment of culinary art.
- Exchange events between migrant communities and the local majority.
- Conferences, talks and educational formats regarding historical, artistic or social issues.
- Literary competitions, musical concerts and plays.
Aerobic and anaerobic activities
In the latter case, we refer to two different types of physical activity, that is, of activities that we can carry out with our bodies. The difference between aerobic and anaerobic activities lies precisely in the mode of exercise they involve: with oxygen consumption and without oxygen consumption, respectively.
A) Yes, aerobic activities are those that require an abundant use of oxygen, since they put the body’s cardiovascular system to work (respiration, heart rate, etc.) and help us to increase our effort capacity in situations of low intensity but for a long period of time.
These exercises do not build muscle, but they do burn a lot of fat. Examples of these types of activities are: long runs, jogging, aerobics, swimming, or dancing.
Instead, anaerobic activities do not want continuous oxygen consumptionInstead, they make use of our endurance capacity, during brief but intense periods of bodily effort. The latter cannot be sustained for long, since the body gathers all its reserves to carry out the work, burning calories to generate muscle.
Examples of these types of activities are weightlifting, sit-ups, artistic gymnastics, or high-speed races.