Gardening for health
Planting flowers and vegetables can provide us with a lot of beauty in the garden or on the balcony, as well as a delicious harvest of fruits and vegetables. But did you know that gardening can work wonders for your health?
I do not believe anyone is surprised that gardening can have a positive effect on our physical health. After all, it is a good exercise for the whole body. However, more and more scientific research shows that gardening has an extremely positive effect not only on physical but also on mental health. This is proving to be important, because physical inactivity is a leading cause of preventable physical and mental disorders.
How gardening affects our mind
According to a study by Professor Tim Lang of the Center for Food Policy at the City University of London, simple and repetitive movements related to gardening ensure that you can rationalize your thoughts because all the senses work together. This way, the symptoms of various mental illnesses can be alleviated and in some cases even prevented from developing.
A joint study by the University of Bristol with University College London shows that soil can have the same effect on the human brain as antidepressants. During the study, mice exposed to “friendly bacteria” common in the soil changed their behavior as if they were taking antidepressants. Lead author Dr. Chris Lowry explains that the soil bacteria Mycobacterium vaccae activate a group of neurons in the brains of the mice studied. This contributes to the production of serotonin, a substance responsible for mood. According to scientists, gardening therapy can reduce pain and reduce the effects of stress.
Gardening makes not only your body work, but also your mind. It requires the involvement of many brain functions, activation of processes responsible for learning, problem-solving, perception and starting thought processes. The development of mental engagement can help reduce stress levels, drive away anxiety, relieve depression, and cure insomnia.
Sir Richard Thompson, a British doctor and former president of the Royal College of Medicine in London, spoke in his paper on various international studies examining the effects of gardening on human health and immunity. One of the most interesting studies he talks about is a Japanese study that found that looking at plants altered the EEG records of patients (records of anger and sadness). Also helped in reducing patients’ blood pressure, heart rate and muscle tension. Another similar study by psychologist Roger Ulrich, in which images of plants and trees in postoperative wards have improved patients’ moods and reduced the use of analgesics, surgical complications and length of stay.
Government and NGO projects that work with the impact of gardening on the body and mind of man
The British health cooperative LambethGPFoodCo has been working since 2013 to introduce the so-called garden therapy. With their help, in many hospitals in Angia, open spaces transformed into gardens help patients to grow fruits and vegetables. They also help to build gardens in the offices of general practitioners, which are designed to support the problems of patients with chronic health problems. In addition to the direct physical and mental impact, the program also takes into account the fact that these activities provide patients with communication and social interaction that counteract loneliness and isolation.
The University of Essex has set up the National Care Farms network, which has more than 200 farms visited by more than 3,000 patients a week. The charity Thrive has organized over 800 therapeutic gardening projects in England and Wales. Hundreds of farms have set up in Norway and the Netherlands under the Green Care Farms project, employ patients with mental health issues, learning difficulties or drug addiction, as well as the elderly, as part of their therapy.
All of these organizations continue to persuade physicians to encourage their patients to spend more time working outdoors. Gardening is in fact an alternative therapy, offering a proven, inexpensive and almost universally available means of improving human health.
In Bulgaria, we have projects where gardening is an important element of creating communities and the overall process of working with children without parents or those with special needs. To name a few, volunteer projects of Karin Dom, The Social Garden – an initiative for exchange of knowledge and experience between elderly people from the village of Benkovski and youngsters without parents from Varna and the region. “Delicious Garden” of the Foundation “Together” create educational bio-gardens in the yards of kindergartens, the GARDENStoGROW project, co-financed by the European program Erasmus +, creating demonstration educational vegetable gardens in kindergartens and primary schools.
Nine main benefits of gardening on human health:
Gardening can build self-confidence.
Looking at plants changes the EEG records of patients. Realizing that you can plant and grow plants can make you see yourself in a different light and gain more confidence in your strengths and skills. If you can grow a garden, then you can do a lot!
Gardening is good for your heart.
It can be your aerobic exercise that burns calories and strengthens your heart at the same time. Researchers claim that people who garden even just one hour a week reduce their risk of dying from heart disease by 12 percent.
Gardening reduces stress.
Gardening can help reduce the symptoms of depression and anxiety. Watching and caring for your flowers and vegetables can help distract from the stress of everyday life.
Gardening can make you happy.
Gardeners direct contact with the soil bacteria Mycobacterium vaccae leads to the production of serotonin in the brain, called the ‘hormone of happiness’.
Gardening can make you physically stronger and healthier.
Increasing your physical activity will inevitably lead to an improvement in your health. All the digging, planting, squatting and getting up can increase the capacity of your lungs, help you burn a lot of calories and make your muscles stronger.
Gardening is good for the whole family.
Gardening can be a wonderful opportunity to create new experiences with family and friends. The happiness and stress relief that gardening provides is great to share with loved ones. In addition, gardening has special benefits for children. Digging in the mud is associated with many health benefits and reduces the risk of allergies.
Gardening can provide you with a good dose of vitamin D.
We all know that vitamin D improves the absorption and increases the levels of calcium in the body, which is good for the bones and the immune system. Working in the garden and exposure to sunlight will help you get the necessary amounts of vitamin D. Just do not forget the sunscreen.
Growing your own food can help you eat healthier.
If you have a vegetable, herb or fruit garden, you will have fresh products that you know are pesticide free. What could be better than to provide a tasty and healthy salad for your family while taking care of your health.
Gardening teaches us patience and gives us hope.
“The time you lost on your rose makes it so important,” says the Little Prince in a book loved by millions by Antoine de Saint-Exupery. Gardening allows us to experience the incredible emotion of caring for and being responsible for another living being. And the plants themselves can teach us something very significant. Their extraordinary thirst for life and the will to fight and grow can sow the seeds of hope, faith in the future and the desire to grow. Do you know that weeds can have benefits as well? Here is an article on Useful weeds with health benefits.
