The Health Benefits of Gardening

Introduction

During last year the lockdown made many people speculate shortages. Food was one of them and that made many Americans pick up their gardening tools and grow their produce. Before you search for “topsoil near me” to start your garden, let’s look at the health benefits of gardening:

The Benefits

1. Strengthens your immunity – You have a lot in common with the plants in your garden. While plants use sunlight to make their food, your body uses sunlight to make vitamin D, an essential nutrient. Half an hour of gardening in the sun can help you produce as much as 50,000 internal units of vitamin D. This nutrient can help your immune system and also makes your bones stronger.

Researchers have also found that people with ample vitamin D in their bodies are at a lower risk of several types of cancer, sclerosis, and lymphoma. On the other hand, those with low vitamin D levels are at a greater risk of dementia, psoriasis flares, and diabetes. However, make sure to limit your time in the sun to avoid skin cancer.

2. Protects your memory as you age – Exercise, in general, improves your brain’s cognitive functioning, and while gardening you get a lot of it. Patients with dementia show higher brain nerve growth factors after they indulge in gardening for less than half an hour, raking the soil, and planting vegetables. Some scientists even found that horticultural therapy or gardening can be useful for improving the mental health of dementia patients.

Norway and the Netherlands have a program for educating people about health and social care through farms – Green Care. People with dementia participate in those programs for long hours of working on farms and gardens to improve their condition.

3. Gardening is a good workout – If you’ve ever participated in gardening, you know it can build up a lot of sweat. It is various forms of exercise that are good for your body and your mind. When you rake the soil or cut grass to fix the landscaping or plant seedlings, you do a light to moderate workout. However, when you chop wood, dig or shovel you indulge in heavy exercises. You use a lot of important muscle groups to grow your veggies, herbs, and flowers. When you work out so much, you also get a good night’s rest and can sleep more easily. It also helps you maintain a healthy weight.

4. It’s a relaxing activity – It’s hard to imagine how so much exercise from gardening can help you relax. However, researchers have found out that gardening helps you to cope with stress and calms you down. People who garden more instead of quietly reading a book have lower levels of the stress hormone cortisol in their bodies. You also end up feeling more rewarded in a good mood after gardening.

5. Boosts your mood – Studies conducted throughout the world have found that gardening can help your mood and also give a healthy boost to your self-esteem. You may feel less anxious and depressed after gardening out in the sun. Even extensive studies that took over 3 months found that people with depression had their symptoms alleviated and their overall mental health improved. Moreover, those improvements lasted a long time even after the study period.

6. Increases sense of community – Currently there are more than 29,000 gardening parks in over 100 US cities and there are around 5000 school gardens. Some of the largest community gardens stretch across 14 acres of land. These gardens are increasing in numbers and thriving since they engage a lot of people and promote human interaction. The product is a nice bonus. Children who take pictures of their gardening work and share knowledge with their peers found a better sense of personal well-being from the relationships they formed. When you work in a community garden with people of all age groups and backgrounds, you also get a change in perspective that is good for your mental health. Apart from that, there are other environmental and economic benefits.

7. Addiction recovery – Horticultural therapy has existed for thousands of years. Dementia patients benefit from it and so do recovering addicts. Many addiction recovery centers run a horticultural therapy program for their patients. People who recover from alcohol addiction experience positive feelings while working with plants. Moreover, people who choose gardening as their preferred activity instead of art in the recovery center are more likely to complete the rehab program.

8. Cope with eco-anxiety – Climate change is real and new findings by scientists every year on increasing carbon levels and rising global temperatures have elevated stress levels among many people along with a feeling of guilt. This eco-anxiety can make you feel helpless and powerless due to the sheer scale of climate change. Gardening can help you cope with some eco-anxiety since it helps the earth and you do your part, even if it’s a minuscule contribution in the larger scheme of things. Here’s what you can do to reduce your eco-anxiety by reducing your carbon footprint through gardening:

• Use metal tools instead of gas or battery-powered tools
• Use mulch, drip irrigation, and harvest rainwater to cut down water consumption
• Decrease methane production and waste by composting
• Plant more trees to absorb carbon dioxide from the atmosphere

9. It empowers you – During the world war, there were huge speculations of global food shortage. That’s why backyard gardens popped up all around America so that the citizens could maintain their food sovereignty. Similarly, during that period when Japanese Americans faced forced internment, they started growing vegetable gardens, stone gardens, made fountains, ponds, and other landscape structures to reclaim their land and preserve their cultural identity. It has been a way to fight injustice, inequality, and regain control of your life.

Conclusion

Since historic times gardening has empowered many people and continues to do so to this day in the face of greedy and irresponsible corporations. You are healthier and stronger when you are empowered.

Now that you know all the benefits of gardening you may search for “topsoil near me” to get started.