According the Huffington Post, those who garden are more likely than the average person to feel satisfied with their lives and show less signs of depression or unhappiness. A recent study in the Netherlands echoes this bit of news, suggesting that gardening can fight stress even better than other relaxing leisure activities.
CNN reports that many gardeners enjoy their hobby as an antidote to the modern world, a way of reclaiming some of the intangible things that are lost in our dirt-free lives. Contact with dirt is good for us, ingesting Mycobacterium vaccae, a harmless family of bacteria that lives in natural soil, acts like a serotonin-boosting antidepressant drug, and decreases anxiety-related behavior while improving learning ability– so far this is only proven to be the case for mice, but possibly for humans, too.
Aside from mental health, gardening has a beneficial impact on our bodies: our brains respond positively to gardening. For example, a substantially lower risk of dementia has been documented in gardeners vs non-gardeners, even when a range of other health factors were taken into account. Merely looking at greenery over a brick wall was found to speed up the healing process in post-surgery patients.
Earthing is another pleasant side effect of digging in good old dirt. Connecting to the Earth restores, stabilizes and maintains the human body’s most electrical state. Gardening is also a healthy physical exercise. The risk of developing medical complications such as heart disease, high blood pressure, and osteoporosis drops both with physical activity in the yard and with a diet that replaces processed foods with homegrown alternatives.
Gardeners also eat more fruits and vegetables than the average person. Produce picked fresh from your own backyard means there is a chance it has not been sprayed with pesticides, herbicides.
Aside from direct benefits, gardening is also becoming a statement of community and harmonious natural habitat. While neighbors exchange seeds and produce, children have an opportunity to learn about the cycle of life and where food really comes from.
It all starts with the first step of planning your garden while considering basic safety guidelines.
Become a member or sign up for a free issue to read more optimistic stories.