“Nature always wears the colors of the spirit”
~ Ralph Waldo Emerson
How do you feel when you see a large space of greenery? When everywhere you look is covered with blooming flowers and colorful butterflies, you feel an undefined sense of calm. You feel fresh and relaxed. Right?
Of course, greenery gives you that positive vibe and puts your soul at ease and comfort. It offers revitalizing freshness and a sense of satisfaction to your mind and to your heart. Nothing could ever compare the blissful and soothing aura we get around nature.
Studies show that green space promotes mental health and can protect our mental well-being. Be it eating healthy food from your own garden or keeping good mental health, gardening on a regular basis can bring a lot on your plate in terms of good health.
Gardening and Mental Health
Growing up and living in an urban environment is associated with a high risk of developing psychiatric disorders, but then, the underlying mechanism still remains unknown. You can find a long list of evidence that proves the above fact.
But there is a healthy way to get over this. Is it exercising or getting help from a therapist? No, not at all.
It’s GARDENING! Surprising, isn’t it?
Researchers say that green spaces have a protective effect on our well-being and help us to quickly recover from stress. Exposure to green space such as parks, forests, rural lands, or even to a terrace garden – reduces the risk of developing an array of psychiatric disorders during the teen, adolescence, and adulthood.
Psychiatrists say that people who do gardening on a regular basis recover quickly from stress and are less likely to feel depressed. It is a proven fact that individuals feel positive when exposed to natural environments.
Benefits of Gardening for Your Health
More than ever, we have become so obsessed with technology and are increasingly becoming nature deprived. Though it may seem a little difficult given our busy routines, let’s learn to embrace nature. Why? Because in today’s world, more than 75% of people suffer from any kind of mental illness – be it stress, anxiety, depression, tension, and much more, and nature can fix these illnesses to some extent.
People these days spend more than 90% of their time indoors and this has led to extremely sedentary, disconnected, unhealthy, and unnatural lifestyles. Most often people feel disconnected even with tho`se they share the roof with. Shocking is it? But that is the reality.
Ideally, there are several facts that highlight the effects of a sedentary lifestyle and on the other hand, we have valid reasons that highlight the benefits of gardening for your mental health.
So, here are the top 5 interesting benefits of gardening for your health and well-being:
- Gardening burns a good amount of calories
- Regular gardening reduces the risk of heart disease
- Gardening makes our life meaningful
- Digging in the soil has mood-boosting benefits
- Gardening is a good stress-buster
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Burn Your Calorie with Gardening
Do you know? By spending half an hour of digging in your garden, you can burn more than 250 calories. In fact, it can do wonders for your overall health and well-being.
Imagine, it’s a Sunday morning, and you want to plant a good amount of plants in your garden. You start digging and it goes for more than half an hour. You plant the seeds or tiny saplings and water it all. Completed the session? How do you feel now? You would be feeling fresh and energetic and at the same time sweaty.
This is because you have burned a quality amount of calories, say close to 250 to 300 calories, in that entire session. This strengthens your bones, relieves stress, and protects your heart.
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Reduce the Risk of Heart Diseases with Regular Gardening
Gardening is an activity that is energetic enough to leave you sweaty, slightly out of breath (at times), and of course, raise your heartbeat. The surprising fact is that it is good for your heart!
Get moving for half an hour a day or three times a week brings in good benefit for your health. So, getting into the sun and doing your garden work is all you need for your mental health. It activates your sweat glands and burns the fat that is required. This prevents and controls high blood pressure and this, in turn, safeguards you from any kind of heart disease.
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Gardening Makes Our Life Meaningful
It may sound cliché, but it’s true.
“We may think we are nurturing our garden.
But of course it’s our garden that is really nurturing us!”
~ Jenny Uglow
Gardening is an excellent way to be environment friendly and at the same time, maintain our mental wellbeing. Growing your own garden-grown food is not only healthy but it also tastes yummy. Some follow this as a hobby, but when you learn to channelize your hobby, you can witness greater benefits.
Initially, you may find it hard to start developing your garden. But once you get involved in, you tend to start doing it on a regular basis. Start your gardening with indoor plants and then go for outdoor ones.
Remember, even having a small plant on your desk can reduce your stress at a greater level. It keeps you feel more energized and also helps you to think clearly and effectively. People who often suffer from anxiety or depression can opt for this for better mental health. Because gardening has incredible benefits on your mental wellbeing.
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Boost Your Mood by Digging into the Soil
Does it sound weird?
Pitching out and digging by yourself to create your own garden gives you self-satisfaction. Digging in the dirt and inhaling the fresh air does lift your spirits.
Studies show that gardening has increased mental peace, vigor, psychological wellbeing, and your immune system. When you get to dig the soil, you stir up the microbes present in it. Inhaling these microbes stimulate serotonin production, which is a hormone that makes you feel relaxed and happier.
So, next time when you need a boost, just go out and play in the dirt. It actually works.
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Gardening – A Good Stress Buster
Another great thing about gardening on a regular basis is that it keeps stress at bay. Previous researches on gardening prove that having and working on in-home gardens lessen the formation of cortisol, a stress hormone, in humans.
Regular gardening invokes positive moods and it also gets you some good exercise too. Getting along with nature and smelling the dirt makes you feel fresh and releases stress. It releases endorphins, the happy hormones that help humans to get rid of stress.
Above all, gardening helps you to stay connected with nature and makes you stay away from all electronic gadgets. You get a chance to view beautiful things, witness colorful flowers and butterflies. This relaxes your mind and unwinds all stressful thoughts.
Final Takeaway…
Doing gardening on a regular basis has shown several health benefits such as reducing the blood pressure, decreased cholesterol levels, reduced muscle tension, and invokes more brain activity. The colors you get to witness brings calmness, peaceful feelings, and happy thoughts. To simplify, it serves as a natural therapy to both our body and soul.
So, how about opting gardening as your new hobby?
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