Discover the Surprising Health Benefits of Gardening for Mind and Body

Gardening activity promoting mental and physical health

Who does not enjoy that first cut of the lawn? Looking at the vibrant colours of a mixed summer flower bed or eating from your first crop of vegetables? Nature can work wonders to destress when we need it most. My first memories are of sitting back on a bench on a Friday afternoon and looking at the bowling green I had cut earlier that day, almost perfect stripes, luscious green colour and an enormous sense of pride and achievement. Serotonin and Cortisol obviously released, and all is good with the world.

Just being out in the fresh air can help make you feel better. Too many of us are stuck in boxes filled with recycled air and a little window to look out of. When outside you will hear the birds singing, feel the sun on your face or rain if you live in Wales like I do. You get to witness nature first hand and the dramatic way it changes season to season.

My memories are not unique, nature or more precisely in my case gardening gives you that opportunity to relax, be at one with your environment and improve your mental health. From a shy 18-year-old with my confidence boosted I was able to face other challenges. And so, it can also be the case with people who are perhaps facing difficult times at a particular moment in their life. Not all people will get the same relaxing feeling that I get but there is a general consensus that it gives benefits of some kind to almost everyone who undertakes it.

When you are out in the garden it is inevitable that you will use and move your body in different ways to which you normally would. You will find yourself using muscle groups you had previously forgotten about that will burn extra calories should that be your goal. You could improve your dexterity and help strengthen your fine motor skills, and movement of any kind is always good to keep up your mobility and make your body more flexible. I find as I get older my balance and coordination is deteriorating and this could be another benefit of spending more time outdoors.

The physical benefits are quite easy to see whereas the mental ones a little more hidden but are most definitely there. Research carried out by The Royal College of Physicians and the charity MIND re-enforces this idea. For some it has a calming effect that takes them out of the hustle and bustle of their daily routine. For others it allows them to be themselves and show their creativity, an area often overlooked as most people are expected to conform to the norm in today’s society. Some people like the order it can bring. If they understand the plants rely on them to survive and instigate a watering programme it can add structure to their lives knowing they have to be in a certain place at a certain time.

Then there is the community, once you become a gardener you are never alone, there are huge communities of like-minded souls out there and if you can find a local one to join the bonds you make last a lifetime. Shared plants and freely given advice and tips it all contributes to a healthy society.

The current buzz word is sustainability and if every TV celebrity chef is to be believed the provenance of ethically sourced local produce. Call me sceptical here but I have yet to be in a restaurant where a customer has asked where their buttered leeks spent their final moments. You won’t get more sustainable or locally produced than out of your back garden. The feeling of self-esteem, pride and satisfaction one can feel as you look over your little kingdom you have created and taste that first bite into any produce you have grown, that is something you can’t buy in any shop.

I don’t know the current school curriculum and if biology even gets taught nowadays but, in my day, it was a staple for the first 3 years and photosynthesis was explained to us in great detail. Now to finally get a chance to see it first hand and understand how it works makes you just want to know that little bit more and there is nothing wrong with broadening your horizons.

Talking of photosynthesis reminds of a little story that happened to me earlier in my career. I was working as a tropical plant technician and had to visit a local call centre for a bank. There were over 100 staff employed there and it was decided to come in and carry out maintenance before the staff arrived on site. The problem was there was a security officer who could never be found to open up the building early in the morning and so the time slots were continuously missed.

It turned out that the said security officer was away from the desk sleeping. She became quite aggressive when this was put to her and her defence was all the plants in the building were producing too much CO2 and it was slowly poisoning her and making her drowsy. She knew this from her time in school learning about photosynthesis. Unfortunately for her the photosynthesis equation is as follows.

As you can see, she mixed up her CO2 and Oxygen which is never a good idea and her argument was dismissed with our time slots never missed again.

So, the benefits of nature and even more so the joys of gardening offer so much to anyone looking to participate. I see it as a method that can be used to help people with health issues be they physical or mental and having driven past many vacant allotments in recent months it’s difficult to see why someone has not taken this idea on board. Maybe one day I will when I have to stop work for a living and have the time to give something more back to the community.