8 Surprising Benefits of Gardening

Gardening is one easy activity to carry out, and it comes with many benefits.

While many engage in gardening for its nutritional benefits, there are lots of other advantages of gardening. Some of them are instantaneous and related to physical well-being. 

Yes! That’s right. Gardening has so many health benefits. It is one of the best social activities a person, a family, or a community can engage in.

We have put together eight tremendous and yet surprising reasons gardening can be useful for you. Keep reading to learn more.

Benefits of Gardening

1. Gardening Reduces Stress

Gardening can be an excellent stress reliever and mood booster. Majorly, this is because it is a simple and repetitive process, unlike other forms of planting. It keeps your mind focused and distracts it from other boggling problems of life. 

Outdoor gardening exposes you to the early morning sunlight, which helps in reducing depression and anxiety. 

Also, when planting, the presence of non-pathogenic bacteria in the soil secretes serotonin into your brain. Serotonin is considered a natural chemical that helps to regulate depression and stabilize mood swings. 

What happens after gardening reduces stress? Your mind becomes peaceful and calm. You will have a more restful sleep and have a lower risk of depression. This mood-boosting benefit is why most people are advised to opt for gardening when going through a life crisis. 

Gardening helps to distract your mind and enables you to focus on something more serene. 

2. Gardening Promotes Healthier Diet

Imagine being able to have any nutritious meal of your choice without having to go to the market. Yes. Vegetables are one of the easiest plants to foster and harvest from the comfort of your own home. 

If you possess a vegetable, herb, or fruit garden, you would be getting fresh produce. The new plants are way healthier than those sold in grocery stores that might have been treated with pesticides or growth vaccines. 

Being able to depend on your backyard to produce a healthier meal at the dinner table can be a comforting thought. You could decide to plant food vegetables like broccoli, spinach, potatoes, carrots, etc. All of which are nutritious additions to a balanced diet that comes with health benefits. 

3. Gardening Serves As Outdoor Activity for Family Connection

Are you looking for the perfect safe outdoor activity to use to engage your kids? Gardening should be your best shot. It is a great sport to keep your kids busy and less bored without having to worry about their safety. It is also an excellent idea for family bonding.

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Gardening with your family promotes healthier interaction and relieves stress, which is very beneficial to kids. Studies have shown that being exposed to natural dirt at an early age can help reduce allergies to autoimmune diseases.

Many groups or community gardens are usually established to help people connect socially while planting. Community bonding helps in soothing the mind and creating a better human connection.

4. Gardening Improves Your Physical Wellbeing

Gardening is an exercise, a perfect one at that. It is not very tedious as an aerobic exercise, yet it involves the necessary muscle stretching that helps promote overall physical well-being. 

It would be satisfying to know that all those digging and pulling do not benefit the plant alone. It also strengthens your muscles, especially your arms, keeping you fit and healthy. 

Gardening as a planting activity reduces heartburns and high blood pressure, making it ideal for middle-aged people.

If you hope to fight weight gain, you should not run away from gardening. The constant digging and planting help burn unnecessary fat while keeping your mind preoccupied.

5. Gardening Beautifies the Environment

Beautification is one significant advantage that people notice quickly. When you indulge in flower gardening, the satisfaction you get from growing something beautiful as flowers are premium. 

Ornamental plants tend to add a bit of color to your environment and keep the lovely butterflies coming.

A flower garden can be a real sight for sore eyes. You could decide to plant with a goal in mind and create a fantastic display of natural art. Who knows? Your home might just be a centre of attraction for tourists!

6. Gardening Can Boost the Immune System

Playing around in the dirt with your hands under the sunlight can help your body in ways you might not realize. Humans share some characteristics with plants, one of which is the ability to absorb sunlight for photosynthetic activities. Gardening exposes your skin to vitamin D secreted by the sunlight.

Vitamin D strengthens your bones and boosts your immune system. This immune boost reduces the risk of having diseases such as skin cancer, bladder cancer, breast cancer, dementia, diabetes, multiple sclerosis, and many more. In other words, gardening a day keeps the doctor far, far away.

7. Gardening is an Effective Rehabilitation Tool

Over the years, people with addiction problems have found gardening helps in dealing with addiction. It helps them focus their mind on a calm and fulfilling task to distract them from being addicted to drink, drugs, or sex

Many therapists with knowledge of horticulture usually prescribe gardening to their patients as a part of their recovery process. If you are struggling to get over an addiction of any sort, try gardening. It serves as a natural therapy that will help to initiate positive feelings in you.

8. Gardening Helps to Increase One’s Confidence

There is always this confidence that comes with completing a gardening project. After all the real digging, pulling, watering, and planting, you become proudly satisfied at the end of the task. It is just like birthing a new baby, after all. 

You just formed something beautiful in the soil with your hands. Such feelings help build your self-esteem and confidence, which can be applied in other areas of your life.

Owning a garden of your own can also give you a form of empowerment, especially if you indulge in it for an extended period. This sense of agency means that you control your health improvement and survive any food insecurity in your community.

Conclusion

Gardening, generally, is a fun outdoor activity with many incredible benefits. It can help deal with many health-related problems like weight gain, depression, anxiety, insomnia, or low dieting. 

It also helps in beautifying your environment and serves as a bonding activity for families and communities. It is the perfect sport to keep children busy whenever they are bored. 

However, just like other outdoor activities, it has its risks. Therefore, it is advisable to apply caution when gardening by following basic principles and safety rules:

Be wary of harmful chemicals, make use of protective hand gloves. and drink lots of water to make up for all the time under the sun.

Are you planning on starting gardening? Well, don’t sleep on it. Dig in right away.

Also, you can share with me how gardening has benefited you. Leave a comment. I would love to hear from you!!!