The Health Benefits of Gardening: More Than Just a Hobby
First Blog Entry: Why Gardening Matters
After intense preparations, the website is up and running, the paperwork is filed, and Southern Cultivation is officially open for business. Now I finally get to enjoy the part I really like: Gardening. But why gardening?
Research-Backed Benefits
In this first blog, I want to dive a little bit into the health benefits of gardening. In order to do that, I did what every good biologist does: look into published research. A review article published by Soga et al. in 2017 compared 76 different studies regarding the impact of gardening on human health.
The results of these studies were amazing: Not a single study reported significant negative effects, but the results of many studies suggest that gardening activities have a significant positive impact on health. The outcomes concluded the following: reduction of depression, anxiety symptoms, stress, mood disturbance, and BMI. Furthermore, gardening showed an increase in quality of life, sense of community, physical activity levels, and cognitive function.
Why Is Gardening So Beneficial?
While not surprised, I was still amazed to see how much we need gardening in our day-to-day lives. The question the authors wanted to answer was: Why is gardening so beneficial? Multiple reasons were found as conclusions:
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Direct exposure to nature: Something called restoration theory proposes that the natural world is cognitively restorative.
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Physical activity: The U.S. Parks Service mentioned that if elderly people go into their garden daily, they could potentially achieve recommended physical activity levels of around 30 minutes a day.
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Community building: From community gardening to sharing the literal fruits of your gardening efforts, it all can bring people together.
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Healthier diet: Gardening leads to eating your own produce, which provides a healthier diet full of fiber, minerals, and vitamins.
Conclusion
Gardening is therefore more than just a hobby. It is an investment. As healthcare costs are rising across the U.S., gardening proves useful as it is so beneficial for us as humans. We are made to garden, but if you don't believe me, check out my upcoming blog post!
References:
Soga, M., Gaston, K. J., & Yamaura, Y. (2017). Gardening is beneficial for health: A meta-analysis.
