Direct exposure to nature plays an important part in our well-being and has been proven to have a calming effect on us. When the interaction with nature takes the form of gardening, it is an eye-opener to see how many substantial health benefits are available to us.
These benefits were scientifically determined in a 2016 meta-analysis (a statistical analysis of multiple separate but similar studies) of the effects of gardening on human health.
Health benefits of gardening:
Gardening is a common way to interact with nature and a popular pastime – ranging from tinkering in the garden to more serious digging, planting and weeding. Studies have shown that a regular dose of gardening offer a wide range of health benefits, such as:
• Improved brain health as gardening can help improve cognitive function by increasing brain nerve growth factors. Gardening is also suggested to benefit people with dementia.
• Gardening has been found to be a potent stress relieving activity, resulting in a great improvement in mood and lower levels of the stress hormone cortisol. A more recent (2019) study showed that spending 20-30 minutes walking or sitting in a nature setting, without the distraction of cellphones or conversations, results in a substantial drop in cortisol levels.
• Keeping a fruit and/or vegetable garden provides you with fresh, nutritious and uncontaminated food.
• Gardening can be a good way to get moderate to high intensity exercise and you get a good workout when digging or pushing a lawnmower.
• Regular gardening as part of an active lifestyle can assist with weight loss and a lower body mass index (BMI).
• The feelings of well-being experienced through gardening have also shown to be a powerful therapy for depression and anxiety. One of the studies found that the decline in severity of clinical depression corresponded with the degree to which gardening managed to capture the attention of participants. Another study showed that spending six hours a week growing flowers and vegetables has resulted in a measurable improvement in severe depression symptoms in half of the participants after three months. This improvement in mood continued when tested again three months after the gardening programme has ended.
• The feelings of well-being also show up as an increase in life satisfaction, as 80% of regular gardeners indicated in a survey that they are happy and satisfied with their lives, compared to 67% for non-gardeners.
• Gardening can increase a sense of community by interacting with other gardeners, such as when starting up a conversation with other gardeners in a gardening shop or nursery.
• The daily exposure to the direct attention required by the working environment, cellphones, computers and the like can wear out our capacity for direct attention, leading to “attention fatigue” that makes us feel irritable and stressed out. We can however replenish ourselves by engaging in “involuntary attention”, which is an effortless form of attention, such as when we are exposed to nature through gardening activities.
Conclusion:
The modern urban environment and stressful lifestyles tend to disconnect us from nature. Studies suggest that daily contact with nature has a long-lasting and deep impact on well-being and health, with improvements in physical, psychological and social health.
Sources:
Gardening is beneficial for health: A meta-analysis. Published November 2016 by Elsevier Inc. Science Direct. (www.sciencedirect.com)
Gardening is good for your health in many ways. Published online 7 June 2019. Dr Mercola. (www.mercola.com)
Why gardening is good for your health. Publishe online 8 July 2011. Health magazine, Health.com. (www.edition.cnn.com)
A 20-minute nature break relieves stress. Published July 2019. Harvard Men’s Health Watch. Harvard Medical School. (www.health.harvard.edu)
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