How Gardening Benefits Your Mental Health

Amy Taylor July 05, 2013

Gardening is becoming a common hobby among many people, including busy professionals. It’s no longer a ‘task’ that only grandma enjoys, but a rewarding and healthy activity for all ages. Not only does having a garden improve your surroundings or bring fresh produce in your kitchen, it also gives you a sense of peace, calmness and relaxation.

Here are the amazing things gardening does to your health.

Better health

Staying physically active benefits your whole body. It helps you stay lean, improves your heart health, immunity and mood, and cuts your risk of developing serious illnesses. When you garden, you take your workout routine to a different dimension. Digging, raking, lifting, hoeing, mowing and hauling garden stuff require your muscles to move and burn calories. Just one session of full gardening activity can help you burn up to 300 calories, according to American Council on Exercise.

Creativity boost

There’s really no argue that gardening is an effective way to boost creativity. If you sit at a desk all day, there’s really something special about putting your hands in the dirt, digging, and creating something beautiful. Planting and landscaping gives you a venue to let your creativity soar. It is also a way to express your identity. Your garden is an extension of your personality as it can say a lot of things about you.

Stress relief

Stressed out? It’s time to get dirty! A study by Netherland researchers suggests that gardening can help fight stress better than other relaxing activities. In this research, half of the participants who went through a stressful task were asked to read books indoors whilst the other half were asked to garden for 30 minutes. The group who gardened reported better mood than those who read.

Improved depressive symptoms

In another study conducted by Norwegian scientists, people with depression, persistent low mood, and bipolar II disorder went through a gardening therapy for three months, wherein they spent six hours of gardening per week. At the end of the treatment period, half of the participants experienced measurable improvements in depressive symptoms. What’s more, they continued to experience better mood.

Not only does gardening helps improve our mood psychologically. A study by Dr Christopher Lowry from the University of Colorado found that Mycobacterium vaccae, a common bacteria found in soil, increased the release and metabolism of serotonin (the feel-good chemicals in the brain) when injected in lab mice. It’s very surprising and interesting because most antidepressant medications do the same mechanism.

Improved brain health

It’s really hard not to feel at peace when you are surrounded with beautiful, fragrant flowers, green sights, and fresh air. Among its many benefits, improved brain health is one of the most amazing. The fact that it reduces stress is one big manifestation of its brain boosting benefits. Even for individuals with dementia, just walking in a garden is claimed to be therapeutic.

Furthermore, researchers at University of Michigan found that walking through an arboretum led to an improvement in the participants’ focus and memory.

How to Get Started

If you have never tried gardening in your life, your initial encounter with the dirt, soil and plants can be quite challenging. So you just want to start small. You don’t really need a big backyard to start gardening. You can start with a few houseplants. When it comes to planting, you can get a wealth of how-to information from books, magazines, and of course, the internet. If you have a bigger space, there’s a good opportunity to install your own landscape. It’s really a great outdoor activity that you can try. Make sure to involve your family, especially your kids, so they too can benefit from the amazing benefits of gardening. Apart from flowers, you also want to want to plant some vegetables so you can have an easy, free access to fresh and nutrient-filled produce!

What do you enjoy the most about gardening? Can you share some positive experiences you had with this healthy activity? Feel free to post a comment below.