Why Gardening Makes You Healthier | Top 5 Health Benefits

DATE
March 28, 2021
CATEGORY

The health benefits of gardening and landscaping are widespread and numerous. Even so, many people either don’t care or aren’t aware how healthy gardening can be for your body and mind.

 

The Health Benefits of Gardening

Getting in touch (literally) with nature can have profound long-lasting effects.

There’s mounting scientific evidence that suggests coming into daily contact with nature, whether in a garden or a hiking trail, is enough to have a direct effect on mental and physical well-being.

It can even help alleviate symptoms of depression and anxiety, diabetes, obesity, heart disease, and more.

Getting a little dirt under your nails feels good from time to time, and its inherent health benefits make it an excellent preventative medicine for all sorts of ailments. Lets’a take a look at some of the ways that gardening can be good for you.

 

1) Gardening is physically healthy

The CDC actually defines gardening as a form of exercise. It’s considered ‘moderate intensity,’ which means that you can burn over 300 calories an hour, even if you’re just doing low-impact work.

Gardening can also help lower your blood pressure (leading to reduced risk of heart disease), lose weight, and improve flexibility.

 

2) Gardening helps your body get vitamin D

Exposure to sunlight helps your body take in vitamin D, which is essential for hundreds of bodily functions. It helps your body absorb calcium, which assists with bone formation and strength.

It can also help mitigate the risk of multiple sclerosis, breast cancer, prostate cancer, and non-Hodgkins lymphoma.

 

3) Gardening improves your mental health

Gardening is positively correlated with a reduction in symptoms of depression and anxiety.

It offers a sense of control over the environment and is often used in hospitals and mental institutions as a form of rehabilitative therapy. It’s also proven stress reliever, and it often helps improve your overall mood.

Simply put, gardening has the power to make you happier.

 

4) Gardening can improve your immune system

Some recent studies suggest that exposure to soil and earth can significantly improve your immune system’s health.

The microbes and bacteria found in soil can help you build immunities simply by putting your hands in them; in children, it was found that consistent and prolonged exposure to the outdoors could even prevent lifelong allergies from forming.

 

5) Gardening helps improve memory and protect cognitive functions

Exercise helps improve cognitive functioning in the brain, and new evidence suggests that gardening is very much the same because it helps spur growth of memory related nerves in your brain.

In seniors especially, practicing regular gardening can help reduce the risk of dementia by up to 36%.

 

The Power of Home Gardening

So, while it’s proven that gardening is physically and mentally healthy, everyone enjoys it for different reasons. Everyone also has their own opinions on how best to go about creating their own little horticultural eden.

Maybe if you live in the city, you can join a shared garden, which can help foster a sense of friendship and community. Perhaps you like to grow your own vegetables, which can help you save money and eat healthier too!

If you’re looking to recreate your home garden but aren’t sure where to begin, consider getting in touch! We’d love to help you come up with some ideas – our accredited landscape services division can help you design a garden that fulfills all your needs.

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