Looks like it's time to whip out your gardening gloves, because not only are digging and weeding good exercise, but a great stint of gardening might also boost your mental health.
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In an April 2016 study
published in Environmental Health Perspectives, researchers found that
people living in an area rich in vegetation had improved physical and mental health.
They also found that 30 percent of the overall mortality benefit that
came from living near vegetation was the result of lower levels of
depression.
Now, let's delve a little deeper into how gardening
is being implemented to improve people's health. Tim Lang, PhD, a
profess of food policy at City University London, says it's widely
recognized that regular contact with plants, animals, and the natural
environment can improve our physical health and mental well-being.
"For
the large number of people in our society — children and adults — who
live with challenging physical or mental health problems, gardening and community food growing can be especially beneficial," Dr. Lang explains. "Such
activities can relieve the symptoms of serious illnesses, prevent the
development of some conditions, and introduce people to a way of life
that can help them to improve their well-being in the longer term. And even if you are feeling fine, gardening is, well, just a very nice thing to do."
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What Is Gardening Therapy?
Lambeth GP Food Co-operative
Doctors
in London have already started to prescribe gardening time, with the
help of Lambeth GP
Food Co-operative, which aims to harness the physical
and mental benefits of gardening while growing more local produce. The
program launched in 2013 in South London, and it's now present at
several doctor's offices where unused outdoor space is turned into
gardens for patients to grow fruit and vegetables.
"We
began this with a specific focus on patients with long-term health
conditions, such as diabetes, arthritis, and asthma," co-op director Ed
Rosen says. "Our patients tend to be older, as they have developed long-term health conditions later in life. They also tend to be more socially isolated
and lonely than younger people because often their partners have died
or their families have moved away. So we wanted to create a
health-generating activity that people will enjoy."
Why Is Gardening Therapy Good for You?
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1. It incorporates mindfulness.
You might feel too busy for mindfulness, but a March 2014 meta-analysis it can have a huge impact on your stress levels, helping to stave off anxiety, slash depression risk, and ease insomnia.
Hilda Burke, a psychotherapist, says that gardening is an activity
that seems to help a lot of people get into a "flow." This means that
you don't notice the time passing and aren't simultaneously thinking
over other things, making plans, or rehashing the past. As such, it
helps people both to switch off the other stuff and turn into the
present moment. In other words, it helps them to be more mindful.
"What
makes gardening unique and sets it apart from other activities such as
baking or knitting is that it quite literally connects us to the earth,"
Burke says. "Working with soil, planting things, being patient, and
nurturing our seedlings offers a valuable lesson for our personal lives.
How often do we feel bogged down with stuff we'd rather
not get our hands dirty with? Yet by being patient, loving and nurturing
of ourselves we, like the gardens we tend, can blossom and grow!"
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2. It boosts brain health.
Gardening exercises your mind as well as your body. It utilizes a number of our brain functions and includes learning, problem-solving, and sensory awareness, keeping our minds active.
Some studies have shown the benefits of therapeutic gardens for patients with dementia and Alzheimer's. For example, a May 2012 study published in the journal Psychiatry Investigation found that horticultural therapy benefitted dementia patients by reducing pain, improving attention, lessening stress, and reducing falls.
The charity Thrive
uses gardening to help people with a range of mental health problems,
including soldiers experiencing post-traumatic stress. The charity's September 2011 study of early-onset dementia patients
showed that, over the course of a year, participants' memory and
concentration remained unchanged, but mood and sociability improved.
