9 Impressive Health Benefits of Gardening

May 5, 2022

Gardening is one of the most common hobbies in America. Around 70 million households participate in some type of gardening activity, such as planting flower beds, lawn care, or raising vegetables.

Apart from being a fun hobby and a great way of making your home good, there are also several health benefits of gardening. If you are considering taking up gardening, here’s how this activity can benefit your overall well-being.

1. Gardening Burns a Lot of Calories

Gardening is both a vigorous and moderately intense physical exercise that can help you burn up to 330 or more calories in one hour. This is equivalent to doing yard such as cutting grass, raking, digging, shoveling, and chopping wood.

Working in a garden requires the use of major muscles in the body and will help you lose weight and also improve your sleep.

A 2013 study by the American Journal of Public Health also reveals that people who actively garden, such as participating in a community gardening program or tending to their home gardens and flower beds, have a lower Body Mass Index (BMI) than those who don’t.

2. It Sharpens Your Brain

Apart from being a good exercise for your body, gardening is also a healthy workout for the brain. Exercises hugely improve the brain’s cognitive functions. Tending to your home garden can spur growth in the brain’s memory-related nerves.

This is especially because the activity involves learning about new techniques and plants, which can help improve a person’s memory.

Horticultural therapy has been proven to be an effective treatment for people with dementia. Several doctors encourage patients with dementia or any other condition related to memory to take up gardening.

3. Gardening Can Make You Happier

The acts of growing plants or flowers, seeing them flourish, and even eating from your garden can boost your mood and self-esteem. Gardening can increase your quality of life and also reduce mood disturbances.

Seeing how good your yard or garden looks will encourage you to be more involved, which can also drop your anxiety levels. Also, you will be able to adorn your garden with unique garden decorations that can lift up your moods whenever you spend time outdoors.

4. Gardening Promotes a Healthy Eating Habit

Suppose you choose to grow organic vegetables and herbs. In that case, you will have a healthy supply of fresh and healthy produce. With your own garden, you will use the right fertilizers and a pesticide, which ensures you grow organic vegetables.

Additionally, you will spend less on groceries and this will encourage you and your family to eat more vegetables. Since Dietary Guidelines recommend eating at least two cusps of fresh and healthy vegetables, you will get the necessary nutrients you need to stay healthy and reduce the risk of chronic diseases.

5. Gardening Can Relieve Stress

Gardening is a mood booster that can also help reduce symptoms of stress, depression, and anxiety. Apart from home gardening, several nursing homes, hospitals, and rehab centers use gardening as a type of rehabilitation.

This type of therapy is especially important for patients recovering from surgeries, strokes, injuries, substance abuse, and other conditions. Horticultural therapy programs can help build a person’s mental and physical health.

It can teach patients a new skill, keep them occupied and help restore self-confidence. Additionally, this activity can control and prevent high blood pressure because it can help a person stay calm.

6. Help Your Body Fight Disease

Building an outdoor garden is very good for your skin. The skin needs sunlight to make vitamin D, which is a vital nutrient in your body. When you spend half an hour in the sun, you can get around 8,000 to 50,000 international units (IU) of vitamin D in your body.

This depends on the color of your skin and how much skin you expose to the sun. As you garden and allow your skin to absorb vitamin D, you will have stronger bones and an excellent immune system. This will lower the risk of conditions such as:

  • Non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma
  • Prostate cancer
  • Breast cancer
  • Multiple sclerosis
  • Bladder cancer
  • Colorectal cancer

Having a low vitamin D level exposes you to a higher risk of developing metabolic syndrome, psoriasis flares, dementia, and type II diabetes.

7. Builds a Source of Community

School, family, and community gardens provide the best platforms for meeting new people and interacting with them. This can help improve your self-esteem, moods, and general health.

Working in a garden with people of different abilities, ages and background is an excellent way to garden. To benefit from group therapy, exchange ideas and learn new things, join a community gardening group and flourish the community and your home garden at the same time.

8. Increases Strength and Hand Coordination

Having a strong and powerful grip is crucial. Hand strength, coordination, and flexibility are necessary for everyday tasks such as picking up children, carrying packages, and opening jars.

Gardening provides one of the best ways of strengthening hand muscles and improving motor skills. A few minutes of weeding or planting can help offset strain caused by repetitive motion like phone swiping or typing.

9. Helps to Manage Eco-Anxiety

Watching the gradual and some unconfirmed effects of climate change can increase a person’s stress levels and also create a sense of guilt. Eco-anxiety, which is a sense of feeling powerless to do anything about climate change, can affect a person’s health.

Gardening can help combat these negative feelings and restore your hope for the future. Planting seeds, seeing them to fruition, and learning more about the environment will help you carry and spread hope. 

Learn the Health Benefits of Gardening

Gardening allows you to get outside, make your outdoors beautiful and also interact with other gardeners. It will make you more in charge of your health and beautiful surroundings. You will get to enjoy several health benefits of gardening.

If you are ready to start a garden and enjoy the outdoors, we can help you get the best planters, decors, and more items to make your outdoors beautiful. Contact us for unique home garden solutions.

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Close up 23 inch tall spring garden gnome riding a duck
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17.75 Tall Ceramic Stoneware Stool in Ivory, Yellow and Mauve Camila
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Large iron tricycle plant stand with flower baskets in antique white in garden
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4 hanging garlands 74 inch long with ceramic sailor balls and rope in baby blue, ivory and pink colors and engraved sakura
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Set of 6 Assorted Color 21" Long Multicolor Acrylic Sparrow Pot Stakes
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Thai Buddha kneeling in Prayer Statue in garden
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Red and Cream Colored Metal Station Wagon with Christmas Gifts and Tree Strapped to the top of the Roof
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a Trio of Iron Handmade Giftbox Stakes with Bows and Snowflakes
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27 inch tall iron big bobble head vampire in red coat and black boots
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collage of 6 assorted colors acrylic diamond hanging ornaments
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Set of different acrylic hanging dragon fly ornaments with flowers in different colors
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Full View of Metal Christmas Ball Sitting on a Stake in Red
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3 Metal Christmas Gift Boxes on Stakes with Twinkle Star Details
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Halloween iron Jack-O-Lantern figurine with cat mask and witch hat and trick-or-treat bucket
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Twelve Ceramic Balls in a Round Tray next to a Lantern
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Two Birds Sitting on a Stick with Pink and Blue Beads
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Red Garage Motorcycle Themed Gear Shaped Wall Clock with LED Lights
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large four person Christmas sleigh with glossy red and hunter green finish and metallic gold trim with ornate design and runners, 3 red mailboxes and 5 Christmas trees on a background
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Metal Folding Table with Flower Design
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front view image of Iron and dark green porcelain birdhouse stake with cone roof and a little bird perched on leaves attached to the stake
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image of 4 74 inch long hanging rope garlands with ceramic sailor balls in black with white flowers
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A set of three metal pumpkin Halloween lanterns in three different shapes
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A Girl and Boy- Holding Lanterns, Shoping Bag, and Christmas Trees-Dressed in Winter Clothing
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Fierce Looking Large Metal Dragon Standing Tall, Ready to Spit Fire
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Set of 2 Victorian style red iron sleighs
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Iron haystack cabin birdhouse in antique copper finish with patina details
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Spring garden gnome sitting on a bench with welcome sign birdbath and birds
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9 Long Hanging Acrylic Crystal Decoration in 3 Assorted Colors
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The Ivyland birdfeeder stake is a charming, functional piece that elevates any garden to new heights of beauty and nature-filled wonder.
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24 inch tall red porcelain pedestal birdbath with baby blue flower blossoms painted across the inner bowl in garden
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Motors Unlimited Motorcycle Themed Gear Shaped Wall Clock with LED Lights
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61 inch tall flying blue jay with moving wings iron garden swing stake
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17.75 Tall Ceramic Stoneware Stool in Red, Blue and Green Carmen
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Full View of Large Iron Christmas Ball Sitting on a Stake
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Close up image of Tall cotton style birdhouse garden stake with small bird sitting at the top of the roof and leaves holding up the birdhouse
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21 Inch tall spring garden gnome holding two buckets with pink flowers
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Metal Military Style Jeep - Filled with Christmas Gifts and and a Christmas Tree in the back
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13 Long Acrylic Dragonfly Ornament with Dangling Beads in 6 Assorted Colors
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Barcelona Mosaic Bistro Set - one round table and two folding chairs - outdoors
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