11 Surprising Mind & Body Benefits of Gardening
Maintaining a garden, planting plants, caring for them, and generally creating a pleasant place where you are surrounded by nature has so many health benefits! It helps you feel more present and connects you with nature. What’s more, gardening actually has some pretty impressive health benefits that might make this hobby perfect for you! Not only will you be surrounded by nature, growing your own food, but it will also affect both your mind and body positively. If you haven’t already started a small garden, whether in your yard or on your balcony, see why it is a healthy hobby for you to pick up:
Let’s see the benefits of gardening for both your physical and mental health
In this article
Surprising health benefits of gardening
In this article
#Improves self-esteem
Maintaining a garden boosts self-esteem because tackling nature, planting, growing, and harvesting the fruits of your labor makes you feel capable and active. Even if you don’t grow fruits and vegetables, only flowers, their abundant blooms are also the fruit of your efforts, making you smile and feel good about yourself. You are able to see and enjoy tour labor and literally gather the fruits!
Seeing the fruit of your labor grow will make you feel capable and active
#Good for the heart
Maintaining a garden involves movement, effort, bending, standing, and physical activity that stimulates the heart and balances blood pressure. Gardening is essentially a beneficial cardio workout that will help keep your heart healthy. So, why not take up gardening as a hobby that will also be good for your health and general wellbeing? If you are a beginner in the world of gardening, take a look at this guide on how to prep your garden for the spring season!
Gardening is a relaxing activity that simultaneously stimulates the heart
#Reduces stress
When you are surrounded by nature that you personally care for and nurture, it makes you mentally step away from all the problems of your daily life and relax after a stressful day at work. Gardening reduces stress hormone levels, and increases feelings of happiness and satisfaction, especially if you are achieving your gardening goals. So, gardening is a wonderful escape from the hustle and bustle of modern life and a way to limit stress in your life.
You are helping your garden grow, while it is also working its magic on you
#Makes you happy
Maintaining a garden doesn’t just reduce stress, it also stimulates the secretion of happiness hormones that counteract cortisol. This makes your mood great and puts a smile on your face. When there are so many draining factors in your life, it is good to have something that truly makes you happy!
Gardening literally stimulates the secretion of happiness hormones
#Gives you vitamin D
Spending time outdoors in the sun while caring for your plants provides you with a healthy dose of naturally synthesized vitamin D, which your body needs. Vitamin D is one of the most crucial vitamins for your health and wellbeing. But it also happens to be a vitamin that most people are deficient in. So, what better way to get it than a few relaxing hours under the sun working on your garden?
Gardening gives you a healthy dose of naturally synthesized vitamin D daily
#Helps with weight loss
Gardening helps with weight loss in several ways. First, gardening stimulates you to move more. Second, the sweet fatigue you feel after an active day spent in the garden makes you eat dinner earlier, which is a helpful habit in weight control. And third, if you grow your own fruits and vegetables, harvesting and eating what you produce provides you with an amazing explosion of vitamins and minerals from the organic foods you have produced for yourself and your family! See which are the best fruits for weight loss, so you can grow some yourself!
Gardening is a relaxing way to exercise, believe it or not
#Helps you eat healthy
Aside from the physical activity of caring for a vegetable garden or a fruit orchard, a productive plot can help promote a healthier diet by providing fresh, healthful produce. Gardening encourages people to eat a variety of fruits and vegetables on a regular basis. And, they taste delicious! Think about how rewarding growing your own food will be!
Growing and consuming your own fruits and vegetables has a positive effect on your health
#Helps slow climate change
There is a lot you can do on a personal level to help reverse global climate change. Recycling, carpooling, using energy-efficient appliances, and driving hybrid vehicles are all common ways to contribute. But what if your backyard garden can be included in that list? According to experts, gardens provide critical green space to help reduce greenhouse gasses, lower your need to buy produce, and allow you to recycle kitchen waste (in the form of composting organic waste). What’s more, flower gardens attract valuable pollinators like honey bees! See the flowers that bumblebees love and turn your garden into a bee-friendly oasis!
Plant local flowers in your garden to attract honey bees that will pollinate your garden
#Improves hand strength
All of that digging, planting, and pulling happen to accomplish more than just growing plants. Gardening will actually strengthen your hands! Hand strength, flexibility, and coordination are all basic requirements for accomplishing daily tasks such as opening jars, carrying items, and picking up things. Gardening is an excellent method to strengthen those fine motor skills and muscles!
Gardening will help strengthen your hands and improve your motor skills
#A new appreciation of life
Nurturing something to grow and giving it all your love, time, and effort will give you a new appreciation of all living things. Plants are truly amazing, and you will be surprised by their rapid development under the right care. There is nothing more humbling and rewarding than growing new life and your own food from a little seed.
Gardening gives you a new appreciation of all living organisms
#Teaches you patience
Taking care of plants sometimes requires lots of patience. With plants, things don’t happen overnight, and you need to put in time and effort in order to reap the benefits. And just like children can teach you a whole lot about patience, so can plants! Remember that the good things in life take time!
One of the best benefits of gardening is that it teaches you patience
Related Content
- Are you a beginner gardener that wants to grow fruit? Then check this guide for beginner-friendly fruit trees, they are easy to grow!
- When planting vegetables, it is super important to understand what companion planting is. This will ensure that your veggies grow fast and healthy.
- There are some plants that you should never grow together! They do not thrive when planted in close prolixity to one another, and the results can be really disappointing. So, make sure you always do your research beforehand.
Learn how to grow your own fruit trees as a beginner gardener
Sources
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