How Gardening Improves Our Mental Health
Having a responsibility to take care of a garden can have many advantages. We can learn to look out for other living things and develop good life skills to use for everyday life. By caring for plants with watering and giving them nutrients, you feel more needed and have a sense of belonging.
Having a sense of usefulness can be very beneficial
especially during this COVID-19 time. Loneliness can lead to anxiety and forms of depression. But having a garden that needs cared for gives us a purpose. Multiple studies have shown how gardens can help our mental health. “Participants reported that they enjoyed being in the fresh air (Stepney and Davis, 2004; Rappe et al., 2008) and doing meaningful activity, where they felt productive and useful (Stepney and Davis, 2004; Parr, 2007; Rappe et al., 2008; Parkinson et al., 2011)”.
Gardening is relaxing.
With so much stress and anxiety in our life having something to take your mind off it is good. Gardening helps you focus on the present moments, so we do not have to worry about the past stresses of future obligations. When tending to a garden there are no people with emotions to worry about. Plants allow us to escape from the everyday tasks helping to relieve stress and anxiety.
Gardening requires us to be physically active.
If it is planting new plants, tilling, watering, pulling weeds, or harvesting food plants these all involve some physical activity to complete. Many studies have shown the positive effects of physical exercise on mental health. One such study showed that “Individuals who exercised had about 1-5 (about 43%) fewer days of poor mental health in the past month than individuals who did not exercise.” (Sammi R Chekroud)
The last thing on this list for the benefits of gardening on mental health (even though there are many more) is how there is a result of our hard work. With so many things in life that seem to never yield results, having something to satisfy that emptiness can be a huge stress reliever. Gardening can result in beautiful flowers, amazing looking plants, and my favorite food.
Written by Noah Fleming
