GROW YOURSELF IN A GARDEN
Fergus So
Markus Spiske
Research has shown that prolonged exercise, such as gardening, can burn more calories than a gym session, in spite of feeling much easier to do. According to the Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), moderate-intensity level activity for 2.5 hours each week can reduce the risk for obesity, high blood pressure, type 2 diabetes, osteoporosis, heart disease, stroke, depression, colon cancer and premature death. The CDC considers gardening a moderate-intensity level activity, and can help you to achieve that 2.5 hour goal each week. Additionally, those that choose gardening as their moderate-intensity exercise are more likely to exercise 40-50 minutes longer on average than those that choose activities like walking or biking.
Gardening is good for our mental health. Even something as simple as having a plant on your desk can reduce stress and make you feel more energised and able to think more clearly, and many that suffer from anxiety or depression have found gardening and caring for plants to be incredibly beneficial. Gardening can also be reduce physical pain plus improve mood and self-esteem plus improves mental clarity and feelings of reward. Gardening has also emerged in recent years as a scientifically proven stress reliever. Stress can cause irritability, headaches, stomach aches, heart attacks and worsen pre-existing conditions in the body. Food gardening can particularly be gratifying and an excellent source of fresh produce. From soil preparation to the joy of harvesting, there is always a task, big or small, during the growing season. Many people believe gardening makes us feel good because it is both a physical exercise, which releases endorphins, and also a creative art that allows us to express ourselves.
Markus Spiske
Francesco Gallarotti
In addition to health benefits, gardens are also known to increase property values and save money when grocery shopping. With so many options and resources for both community and personal garden development, there is no reason not to enjoy the outdoors by growing a vibrant, beneficial garden and getting your exercise in the process.
Gardening is also a way of caring for something; sometimes just the satisfaction of keeping a houseplant alive, and the responsibility that comes with it, is enough to give us a sense of purpose and pride.
Aside from green-fingered tasks, there a few tweaks that can make your outdoor space reach its full well being potential:
Create space to sit in
It’s really important to find a place in your garden to enjoy its beauty and serenity. You can choose garden furniture to reflect your taste, making it an elegant and useful part of your living space. Whether it’s with al-fresco meals at a dining set, basking in the glorious sun on a lounger or enjoying some tranquillity with a good book on an outdoor sofa, take the time to relax in your outdoor space.
Grow from seed
Grow plants from seed either on your own or as a fun way to get children to experience the joys of gardening. The enjoyment you get is timeless, and people of all ages will not grow tired of seeing their seedlings germinate and then grow on in the garden.
Try your hand at growing fruit and veg
There’s nothing more exciting and rewarding than nurturing tasty fruit and vegetables to put on the kitchen table. Buying vegetable seeds and planting them with your children is an affordable and easy activity for the school holidays and teaches them how food is grown.
Fill your garden with plants that welcome wildlife
By growing flora that attracts bees and butterflies, your garden will become a hive of activity. Plants from the Lamiaceae family, including lavender, rosemary and sage are best as they’re also low maintenance and easy to keep.
Aaron Burden
Brecht Denil
Benefits of Gardening That Prove It Helps Your Mind and Body
Reduced risk of stroke
According to The British Medical Journal gardening can help reduce the risk of a heart attack or stroke. When looking at the age group 60+ gardening can help prolong life by up to as much as 30%. You’re burning calories and strengthening your heart when you’re out in the garden. Activities such as gardening, may be as good as formal exercise when it comes to reducing the risk for heart attack and stroke.
Burns calories
Gardening can be a hard workout depending on what you do and for how long. A simple 1 hour of gardening could help you to burn up to 330 calories. Also, if you garden for three to four hours, you could easily burn as many calories as you would from one hour in the gym.
Therefore, The National Institute of Health recommend 30-45 minutes of gardening for three to five times per week. Which could be a perfect solution for those not wanting to visit the gym. When you garden you move around. All the different movements needed for gardening -- bending, twisting, stretching and lifting -- work small muscles in the body. And you can easily get a good work out when you are digging holes or pulling weeds. Gardening might just be all the workout you need. As a pleasurable and goal-oriented outdoor activity, gardening has another advantage because people are more likely to stick with it and do it often.
Tom Ezzatkhah
Yen Vu
Stress relief
Gardening as a form of exercise can be good for you as it helps to release endorphins, the hormone that helps to make people feel satisfied and relaxed. Furthermore, being outside in direct contact with the sunlight could help improve your mood. Similar to that of Seasonal Affective Disorder, a type of depression that occurs during the winter months where sunlight is restricted.
Gardening allows you to be more relaxed and one with all the sunshine and fresh air. It equally boosts your immune system function while enabling you to be more productive because there’s no greater measure of one’s power to create positive change in the world than to nurture a plant from a seed to a fruit-bearing plant. Studies have shown that after a day of sitting at your desk, or after a highly stressful day, getting your hands into the dirt and nurturing your garden reduces levels of cortisol, also known as the stress hormone.
Responsibility
Maintaining your garden and keeping your plants alive is a great responsibility. This could be beneficial for those with mental health issues or those just looking for self-worth and purpose.
Live in the moment
Being outside in your garden and experiencing the change of seasons as and when they happen can help you feel connected to the world. This is like sitting in an office all day with only a glimpse out of a window can make time go quickly before you know it it’ll be New Year’s Eve again. Therefore spending the time outside and experiencing the flowers as they bloom can be a great way to keep track of time.
Jonas Kaiser
Annie Spratt
Free anger therapy
If you have experienced a bad day simply grabbing a shovel and doing some heavy digging or drastic pruning could be a great way to rid of your built up of negative feelings. Furthermore, destroying unwanted brambles and weeds is a convenient way to exert anger as if you don’t destroy them they may soon take over your garden!
Sensory
Spending time in the garden is a great way to enhance your sensory system. With all the different smells, colours and textures of plants around you can easily make the most of your body’s abilities. This could be particularly valuable for young children who are learning about the different senses they have.
Decreases OSTEOPOROSIS
Osteoporosis is a disease that can weaken bones and therefore increases the likelihood of a broken bone. Therefore, by regularly gardening you will take part in repetitive tasks that can ensure all the major muscle groups are getting a good workout. This can help decrease the risk of osteoporosis.
Neslihan Gunaydin
Markus Spiske
Reduced risk of dementia
There has been research that suggests engaging in a physical activity such as gardening can help lower the risk of developing dementia. For instance, one study following a group of people in their 60s and 70s for 16 years found that those who gardened regularly had between a 36% – 47% lower risk of developing dementia compared to non-gardeners.
Grow a garden, grow your brain. That's what researchers at UCLA and the University of Pittsburgh found in a 2016 study of nearly 900 older adults. Looking at questionnaires and MRI scans from the 30-year Cardiovascular Health Study, the scientists found that doing more physical activities like gardening, dancing and riding an exercise bike actually upped brain volume in several areas-including the hippocampus, the part that controls memory. The people whose brain size increased from exercise cut their Alzheimer's risk in half.
In another study in 2006, researchers looked at more than 2,800 people over the age of 60. They studied their lifestyle habits, activities and health over a 16-year period. They found that gardening could lower risk of future dementia by 36 percent.
Gardening uses many repeated actions, such as weeding or dead-heading (removing dying flowers from a plant). These actions have a calming effect on the brain. The brain is still active but not in the same way that it is, say, when we use computers.
One long-term study followed nearly 3,000 older adults for 16 years, tracking the incidence of all kinds of dementia and assessing a variety of lifestyle factors. Researchers found daily gardening to represent the single biggest risk reduction for dementia, reducing incidences by 36%. Another study estimated the risk reduction at a whopping 47%. This is because gardening involves so many of our critical functions, including learning, problem-solving, and sensory awareness, that its benefits are likely to represent a synthesis of various aspects.
Annie Spratt
Gabriel Jimenez
Altered state of consciousness
Gardening can help you enter the ‘zone’. This can also be known as an altered state of consciousness where you enter a magical and spiritual place where you can experience the best of who you are. Similar to what an athlete will enter before and during a competition, or the mood you enter during yoga or meditation.
Once gardening you won’t need to worry about the bills you need to pay, upcoming deadlines at work or people who have done something to offend you. Just breathe in the fresh air, give some attention to your garden and forget about any worries you may have.
Builds Muscle Strength
It's no secret that gardening works all the major muscle groups: legs, arms, back, core. But researchers from Kansas State University were surprised to learn that it also increases hand strength. In a small study of older adults, doing simple tasks like filling pots and mixing soil improved their grip-and their self-esteem.
Healthier Food
People who grow food tend to eat healthier than those that don’t, as several studies have shown that gardeners eat more fruits and vegetables than their peers. Home gardens are likely to be filled with fresh fruits and vegetables that are organic and free of harsh chemicals, which are among the healthiest food that should be in our diets. Homegrown produce have also been reported to taste better than store-bought produce.
Improves Quality of Life
Plain and simple, gardening makes you happy. In a survey of older adults by Texas A&M and Texas State universities, gardeners reported more optimism and energy, better health and greater life satisfaction than non-gardeners.
Katya Austin
Markus Spiske
Nourishes the Senses
A flourishing garden does more than feed your body-it feeds your senses. That may sound like warm fuzzy talk, but scientists take it seriously. To help astronauts fight sensory deprivation and ease the boredom and isolation of long missions, NASA researchers began gardening experiments. Using LED lights for 10 hours a day, space station crews grew zucchini, zinnias, sunflowers, soybeans and more. The space farmers said they looked forward to checking their plants each day, and they were surprised at how seeing their bright colours helped during weeks of dark orbit.
Eases Depression
Helping things grow can do more than boost a blah mood. In a small, three-month study of people with clinical depression, working in a garden improved their symptoms. In particular, the participants were able to focus more and brood less-even months after the program ended.
Dirt contains a natural antidepressant called mycobacterium vaccae. According to research, this particular antidepressant microbe causes cytokine levels to increase, which in turns boosts the production of serotonin. People with some mental illnesses have been advised to try horticultural therapy, a garden with a combination of fruits and vegetables as well as scented and flowering plants to nourish all the senses. From visual aesthetic appeal to the refreshing scent of fresh flowers to the nutritional benefits, succeeding at gardening also fosters a sense of confidence, satisfaction, and increases self-esteem.
Once the flowers have bloomed and the fruits have been harvested, looking back on the work that went into the gardening and landscaping will provide you with an overwhelming sense of pride, confidence, and satisfaction, which helps to deal or helps patients cope with illnesses. The overall benefits, apart from the one listed above, seem to spring from a combination of physical activity, awareness of their surroundings, cognitive stimulation, and the satisfaction derived from the work. This is why different farming techniques like the hydroponics farming system is becoming more popular in many therapy centres.
Jill Dimond
Markus Spiske
Improved immune system
Also, another advantage of the sun is that it can help you absorb plenty of vitamin D. In short, Vitamin D can help your body to absorb calcium, which in turn, can help keep your bone strong and your immune system healthy. When you are in your garden, you might feel the sunshine on your skin. This means you are getting Vitamin D. Vitamin D helps our bodies use calcium. That is necessary to keep bones strong. Vitamin D also helps us fight diseases.
Gardening gets you out in the sun, sunlight being a good source of vitamin D. Very few foods actually contain vitamin D, which is instrumental in preventing a number of chronic illnesses, such as rheumatoid arthritis. Those with low vitamin D levels may be doubling their risk of dying of heart disease, osteoporosis, and some forms of cancer.
Gardening has a lot of positive effects on us as individuals, on the environment, and on the planet as a whole. Many now consider gardening as a form of spiritual cultural quest.[2] This, in part, is because gardening and tending the plants can be soothing and has great impact on our health. The good thing about it is that you can start small if the idea of gardening overwhelms you. You could start with a few pots of flowers, set time out to see to their care, and grow to love the soil.
According to the World Health Organization, good health means more than just the absence of bad health symptoms. It means the presence of positive emotions, quality of life, sense of community and happiness.
So if you’ve been living life with a little voice in your head whispering, ‘Psst! You should start a garden,’ it’s for good reason.
The health benefits of outdoor gardening–including backyard gardening and community gardening–range from increased nutrients in your diet to staving off chronic diseases.
Rodolfo Sanches Carvalho
Irina Iriser
Reduces loneliness
Gardening connects people. When you are gardening, you are outdoors. So it is a perfect time to socialise with your neighbours. Most people love to talk about their hobbies, and gardeners are no different. They usually enjoy showing people what they are growing. And most enjoy sharing advice and stories about their gardens almost as much as sharing herbs, flowers and vegetables from their gardens.
Hand Strength and Dexterity
As people get older, agility and strength in the hands may gradually reduce and this may limit the range of activities that are possible or pleasurable for them. Gardening, however, keeps those hand muscles vigorous and agile. Remember not to overdo it, as gardening can also cause repetitive stress injuries, tendinitis, and carpal tunnel. Practice hand-healthy gardening by using a few simple warm-ups, positioning your body comfortably and ergonomically, changing tasks frequently before strain becomes evident, and also balancing tasks between both hands also helps the brain.
Home Grown Self-Esteem
Gardening can bring a sense of accomplishment. Maybe you’re someone who has always felt his or her thumb to be conspicuously not-green. But after tilling, planting, nurturing and harvesting plants, you might see a slightly different person in the mirror. A person who can grow things. A person a little more in tune with the earth. A gardener, whose thumb does seem to emit a shade of green after all.
It always feels good to accomplish new tasks, and if you can grow a garden, what can’t you do?
You’ll Sleep Better
Research at the University of Pennsylvania suggests that the light activity associated with gardening can help you sleep better at night. Sleep is so vital to good health; this is a benefit you shouldn’t ignore.
Aaron Burden
Jill Dimond
Growing Vegetables for Financial Health
There are definitely ways that gardening might actually be costly, but if you do it right, you can save a lot of money on food by growing your own. To save the most cash by growing your own produce, grow vegetables that are expensive to buy and vegetables that you can easily store or preserve by canning, freezing, dehydrating, or pickling.
April is coming to a close, but it’s not too late to start a garden. Instead of starting from seed, you can buy some baby plants. For some advice on starting your first garden, check out these tips.
Overall, gardening regularly is proven to be good for you in many different ways. From health-related benefits that can help reduce the risk of a heart attack to helping you relax after a stressful day. What’s better than getting fit and maintaining a healthy lifestyle whilst making your garden a lovely environment you will want to spend time in.
No longer does gardening need to be seen as a chore, but rather an investment into your health and well-being.