In answer to the question presented at the beginning of this thread?
I can only speak from my only personal experience..I was a caregiver for years and had no time at all for recreation or leisure type activities because of this I got very sick and run down..I have spent the last 11 years now trying to get my health back both emotional and physically..I started including leisure type activities back in my life 2 yrs ago and it is helping..I still have a long ways to go though before I will be healthy and whole again. So I would have to say Recreation and Leisure has real value in a persons life. It really does count in the long run.
If you don't add recreation and rest in your life the quality of all your efforts diminishes.
This is a topic that I have had a great interest in. Just like in exercise, you need to rest and have fun so that you can perform at your very best. I don't have any links handy but I've read that creativity comes when we are idle or goofing off. If you don't give yourself a break your ability to concentrate goes down and you are more prone to making mistakes.
You owe it to your employee, family, charity, whatever to give yourself time to recuperate so that they can benefit from you at your best.
You get rich I think. No actually you get old and grumpy without any memories always searching for happiness. Your job might be your whole life but do your friends care. What are you going to talk about when that is all there is left to do?