Gardening is not just about making your house look good (although a touch curb appeal certainly never hurts). Caring for plants can also do wonders for your own wellbeing, an abundance of scientific research suggests. The workout can contribute to a healthy weight and vital sign levels, and just interacting with flora can improve your mood and psychological state.
“Nature has a huge impact on health and wellness,” says Gwenn Fried, manager of Horticulture Therapy at NYU Langone’s Rusk Rehabilitation. “We know that people’s cortisol levels go down during a calm, green environment.”
Roll up your sleeves and get digging, planting, and weeding this spring and summer. Here’s how tending to your garden beds will benefit you within the long run:
1. Gardening burns a lot of calories.
Good news for those that already spend hours planting perennials: Gardening is taken into account moderate-intensity exercise. You can burn about 330 calories doing one hour of sunshine gardening and yard work — quite walking at a moderate pace for an equivalent amount of your time — consistent with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
Men and ladies who participated during a community gardening program also had significantly lower BMIs (body mass indexes) than their otherwise similar neighbors, consistent with a 2013 study within the American Journal of Public Health.
2. Spending time outside is good for your bones.
When you’re outdoors and your skin is exposed to the sun, it prompts your body to make vitamin D. This vitamin — also found in fish and fortified foods like milk — helps your body absorb calcium, a mineral essential for bone formation, according to the National Institutes of Health. (FYI: You should still apply sunscreen if you’re planning on spending more than a few minutes in the sun to lower your risk of skin cancer.)
3. Growing your own food can assist you eat healthier.
Besides the workout you will get tending to a kitchen garden , a productive plot also can promote a far better diet by supplying fresh, healthy produce. The Dietary Guidelines recommends eating at least 2 cups of vegetables and 1½ cups of fruits per day to get necessary nutrients and reduce risk of chronic disease. However, only 1 in 10 Americans adults meet those recommendations, according to the CDC.
Gardening helps people develop an enduring habit of eating enough fruits and vegetables though, consistent with 2016 research from the University of Florida Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences. This may work not only by providing fresh veggies but also making it more likely for children to try foods they may not have eaten before, research from the American Society for Horticultural Science theorizes.
4. Gardening can relieve stress.
Gardening is positively correlated with a reduction in depression and anxiety symptoms, according to a 2017 meta-analysis in Preventive Medicine Reports that looked at 22 different case studies.
In fact, some hospitals even use planting and flower arranging as a kind of rehabilitation for people recovering from injuries, strokes, surgeries, and other conditions. NYU Langone’s horticultural therapy program helps patients rebuild both their physical and mental health, Fried says.
Not only does it give people control over a situation when they might feel helpless, but it also teaches them a new skill that can restore confidence. “They don’t really see a worth in themselves because how they define themselves has changed, but being be ready to lookout of something may be a good place to start,” she says.
These benefits can extend outside of a healthcare setting too. “People are so busy — there’s such a lot stress now with electronic media everywhere the place,” Fried says. “People need respite and nature provides respite.”
Moreover, the act of growing plants may also help boost your mood. The 2017 meta-analysis also linked gardening with increases in quality of life and reductions in mood disturbance. This may have something to do with how it changes your outlook.
Thank you,
Glenda, Charlie and David Cates
