Spending time outdoors and getting green fingered has been a tradition of many years. Whether for ornamental lawns or to dig for Britain during WW2, gardening, planting and growing is a natural human instinct.
But as well as the produce we grow, gardening has many other health benefits, both mental and physical. From reducing risk of serious illness, increasing recovery time and pain levels in those recovering from surgery, to sleep and general mental wellbeing.
Increase in Vitamin D production
In countries where the sun doesn’t shine all day every day, such as the UK, getting Vitamin D in is incredibly important. Researchers from Environmental Health Perspective found that “For most white people, a half-hour in the summer sun in a bathing suit can initiate the release of 50,000 IU (1.25 mg) vitamin D into the circulation within 24 hours of exposure; this same amount of exposure yields 20,000–30,000 IU in tanned individuals and 8,000–10,000 IU in dark-skinned people.”
Vitamin D in children promotes healthy bone growth, and in adults may help prevent the exacerbation of osteoporosis in the long run. Vitamin D obtained through sun exposure has also shown to help lower the risk of; breast, colorectal, bladder and prostate cancer, non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma and multiple sclerosis.
While excessive sun exposure can cause skin cancer, putting on sun cream and having a dig in the garden is very good for your body, mind and soul.
Gardening can be a form of Exercise
WHO (World Health Organisation) defines physical activity as “any bodily movement produced by skeletal muscles that requires energy expenditure.” Gardening is included in this, as either moderate or intense exercise. It gets your body moving, from moving plant pots around, to more intense forms such as digging out a new garden bed or mowing the lawn.
Adults aged 18-64 years old should do at least 150-300 minutes of moderate aerobic exercise or 75-150 minutes of vigorous aerobic exercise a week, as well as muscle strengthening exercise two or more days a week. Gardening provides a combination of the two, with the heavy lifting and digging strengthening the muscle, and the regular moving around providing aerobic exercise.
If you want to see whether you’re expending energy, then purchasing a fitness tracker can help you to understand when you use exercise, and whether you meet the recommended guidelines.
Gardening is a Natural Mood Booster
Gardening doesn’t just improve your physical body, it has proven short- and long-term benefits on your mental health.
A multi-year study published in 2011 by the Department of Plant and Environmental Sciences found that ‘therapeutic horticulture,’ or gardening in layman’s terms, improved the symptoms of people with depression. Over 12 weeks, people formally diagnosed with depression participated in gardening therapy, and benefits were seen in the immediate but also lasted for months afterwards.
Similarly, children with additional needs have seen improvements in their development, as shown across multiple studies, especially in those with High Functioning Autism.
Therefore, if mental benefits are seen to provide cognitive assistance those with additional needs and mental illness, the benefits on the wider population will be fantastic.
Green Spaces Reduce Mental Distress
Having a green space near homes and workplaces reduces mental distress, even after removing factors relating to income, education and employment. Wide open spaces such as parks, protected areas and common land being close by provide an area for exploration and relaxation, but closer to home a garden provides a similar benefit.
Gardening at least two to three times a day, even for a small amount of time, was shown to maximise the benefits. It’s lead to calls for domestic gardens to be given greater prominence in urban planning due to the directly attributable benefits they provide. In areas where gardens aren’t available to individual residents, such as flats, community gardens have been encouraged to boost mental wellbeing and create a feeling of satisfaction and progress.
Decrease pain levels and increased recovery
90 patients recovering after having their appendix removed were randomly split into rooms, either with or without foliage. During their recovery, the patients who had flowers in their rooms showed positive physiological responses, such as lower blood pressure and heart rate, as well as rating their fatigue and pain levels lower. The incredible results from this study lead to the doctors recommending foliage as a non-invasive complementary recovery method.
If you haven’t got a large outdoor space that is your own, indoor plants and indoor gardening can provide as much of a benefit as outdoor. Having plants, foliage or flowers around the house, on surfaces and windowsills will give you a sense of achievement as you watch them grow, but also something to care for and boost your mood.
Authored by Richard Salvage is the CEO of The Magic Molecule producing natural biostimulants and other organic bioactives for long-term plant health. Richard combines a passion for science with a desire to make a difference. Having previously built and sold one of the world’s most successful contamination control companies, he is now dedicating his time to the development of innovative, scientific based developments which positively impact the world and our environment.