Gardening is a step toward to a healthier life.
Are you wondering what you can do to improve your mental health at home? Have you thought about gardening, but you do not know what the benefits of growing plants at home are? There are many information out there, but let’s stay here and read this article. You will understand how great for your health is to have a home garden.
I have been doing food garden in containers for over 10 years and can highly recommend it. It has been helped a lot to cope with stress and calm down my feelings and thoughts.
Gardening has long been used as a therapeutic method for the mental health of people with medical conditions such as dementia, anxiety, and epilepsia (1,2).
Overall, it can help to improve physical, cognitive, social, and emotional functioning. “By working with plants, you can gain a sense of personal accomplishment, productivity, self-reliance, and independence” according to Gwenn Fried, manager of Horticulture Therapy at NYU Langone’s Rusk Rehabilitation.
He also adds: “Nature has a huge impact on health and wellness,” says Fried. “We know that people’s cortisol levels go down in a calm, green environment.”
Therefore, gardening activities benefit mental health by increasing mental well-being, engagement, the sense of meaningfulness and accomplishment of practitioners, and reducing the degrees of agitated behaviors.
Another study has also focused on verifying its effectiveness in healthy individuals(3).
Dr. Charles Guy, from the Department of Environmental Horticulture at UF/IFAS(4) adds that more recent studies at the University of Florida showed positive outcomes also for healthy people.
They carried out surveys using a group of women between the ages of 26 and 49 divided between arts and gardening activities, thus forming two distinct groups. The participants were tested by measuring anxiety, depression, stress, and mood. Results showed that both groups improved their mental health over time, but the gardening group reported less anxiety than the arts group.
According to this study, the answers may lie in the history of human evolution, such as their food, shelter, and means of survival. We depend on and grow up surrounded by nature. It’s obvious that having a garden will bring significant benefits.
So, let’s keep calm and do gardening!!!!
What are other health benefits of gardening?
Science explains the benefits of growing plants, flowers, and vegetables, such as fresh air, exposure to sunlight, contact with the soil, and physical activities (5).
Fresh air – cleans the lungs and improves blood circulation, reverting to energy and vitality. Oxygen helps increase brain levels of serotonin, fight anxiety and depression, and maintain a healthy emotional state and well-being.
Exposure to sunlight – in a moderate way- benefits since UV rays can kill germs and bacteria, having a disinfectant effect. In addition, sunlight also induces the brain to produce serotonin, an effective antidepressant and a treatment for seasonal affective disorder, more common in winter periods.
Contact with the soil – Every gardener knows the diverse abundance of microorganisms in the ground/soil, and most of them are beneficial even to humans, strengthening the immune system and protecting in childhood against future risks of asthma and allergies.
It seems that microorganisms, such as Mycobacterium vaccae found in the soil can act as anti-depression and stimulate the production of serotonin by neurons(6).
Planting activity – each person must participate within their physical limits. But lifting and lowering, for example, are exercises that, in practice, strengthen the physical body since they move and strengthen muscle groups and bones, contributing to balance and physical resistance and increasing health.
Produce healthy food – fruits, vegetables, and herbs cultivated without chemical additives, expanding the advantages. Freshly harvested foods have high nutritional value to all families and introduce more health into everyday life!!!
Fun and social activity – Adults and children can participate in setting up the garden, watering, and harvesting together. it is a fun activity to bring people together in a common goal! Children can learn more about the nature while helping the parents, relatives or friends taking care of the garden.
Final Thoughts
Having a garden at home is a wonderful way to improve your mental health, go green, and introduce a healthier lifestyle for you and your family. Let’s start a vegetal/ herbs garden in containers at home!
Follow our articles on creating a food garden in containers and small spaces here.
Have you started a food garden at home? If so, have your noticed the benefits for your mental health? Comment your experience below!
2 Comments
We stumbled over here by a different website and thought I should check things out.
I like what I see so i am just following you. Look forward to going over your web page repeatedly.
Thanks very much for your message! Please, feel free to sign up for my newsletter. Gardening is great tool to improve mental health. My anxiety and stress reduces a lot when I am working on my container gardening. 🙂