This chapter examines the complex and contested relationship between leisure and health. It outlines the imperative of public health in the history of leisure and highlights the ways that leisure activities can be both health improving and health harming. Key issues connected to the relationships between leisure and health and gender, aging, diversity, disability, the environment and nature are discussed. The chapter concludes that the leisure–health dynamic is complex and contested. The relationship between leisure behaviors and health is influenced by who is taking part in what leisure activities, where, when and in what ways. Future directions in research about leisure and health include a focus on informal leisure, emotional drivers of leisure, intersectional aspects of leisure engagement, the health-harming character of leisure engagement, and the interconnections between leisure, sustainability and climate action.