As it turns out, gardening has more benefits than just making our surroundings look pretty.

According to a meta-analysis published in the academic journal Preventive Medicine Reports, gardening was found to have a wide range of health benefits. In the study, several participants reported significant reductions in their stress, depression and anxiety levels, increases in their cognitive function and overall quality of life, and even the establishment of a renewed sense of community.

Similarly, a study published in Clinical Medicine, found that gardening helped improve health by blending together physical activity with social interaction and exposure to nature and sunlight.

With that being said, here are other benefits you can get from gardening.

Gardening can help you fight disease

Gardening — especially outdoor gardening — can help you develop stronger immunity. This is because outdoor gardening forces people to stay much longer under the heat of the sun, which can directly cause an increase in their Vitamin D levels.

Vitamin D, according to the National Institutes of Health, is a nutrient that is needed to keep your bones, teeth and muscles healthy. It is also needed to keep the body’s immune system in optimal condition.

In addition, gardening also exposes you to microbes, some of which can help augment our own immune system and thus reduce our chances of developing allergies and similar conditions.

Gardening can be a good substitute for a home workout

Gardening isn’t just about doing delicate planting and watering — it also involves a lot of heavy lifting.

So much so in fact, that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has actually categorized activities like raking and cutting grass as being light to moderate exercise, while yard work such as shoveling, digging and chopping wood are considered to be examples of vigorous aerobic exercise.

This means that doing yard work in your garden can help you build your strength, stamina, and even flexibility.

Gardening can help improve your memory

Aerobic exercise, such as yard work, has long been known to improve the brain’s cognitive function according to experts at Harvard Medical School. The activity seen to boost the size of the hippocampus, the part of the brain that is involved in verbal memory and learning.

This finding has led to experts theorizing that gardening may be an effective form of therapy for people who are suffering from dementia, as well as other severe mental illnesses such as schizophrenia, bipolar disorder and major depression.

Gardening can help boost your mood and relieve stress

Gardening, according to studies, can help relieve your stress — an effect that can be attributed to its methodical nature.

“Gardening gives you a chance to focus on something and put your mind to work with a goal and a task in mind,” Robert Hutchins, a doctor of internal medicine at UNC Healthcare, said.

Aside from helping to address your stress levels, gardening can also make you feel happy.

According to a study conducted by researchers from the University of Colorado Boulder, this is because of Mycobacterium vaccae, a type of healthy bacteria that lives in soil. According to studies, this bacteria can actually increase levels of serotonin and is therefore able to reduce your feelings of anxiety.

Researchers and scientists at the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) agree.

In a study completed in 2016, researchers at NASA found that working with plants can help provide serious stress relief and positive sensory stimulation, noting that gardening can keep astronauts sane and happy even in the severe environment of outer space.

Gardening can help build your self-esteem and foster human connections

“Interacting with nature, especially with the presence of water, can increase self-esteem and mood, reduce anger, and improve general psychological well-being with positive effects on emotions or behavior,” Charlie Hall, a horticulture and economics specialist at Texas A&M University, said.

Hall’s statement echoes a 2016 study published in the Journal of Public Health, which found that people who worked in gardens had significantly better self-esteem, total mood disturbance, and general health compared to those who did not garden.

Gardening can help you develop healthy eating habits

Gardening, according to a review of studies published in the Journal of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics found that children who were introduced to gardening were more open to eating fruits and vegetables compared to those who were not exposed to gardening.

Another study, published in the American Journal of Public Health, meanwhile, found that gardening can help in managing your weight in a sensible and healthy manner.

The study, conducted by a team of researchers from the University of Utah, found that gardeners not only have a significantly lower body mass index, they also registered lower odds of being overweight or obese, than non-gardeners.

According to the researchers, their findings suggest that community gardens should be considered by public health officials who want to identify neighborhood features that promote health.

Gardening is more than just a hobby that beautifies your surroundings — it’s also a valuable pastime that offers an impressive array of benefits to individuals and their respective communities.

Learn more about gardening methods at GreenLivingNews.com.

Sources:

HealthTalk.UNCHealthCare.org

ScienceDirect.com 1

NCBI.NLM.NIH.gov

ODS.OD.NIH.gov

The-Scientist.com

CDC.gov

Health.Harvard.edu

ScienceDirect.com 2

Colorado.edu

NASA.gov

AgriLifeToday.TAMU.edu

Academic.OUP.com

JANDONline.org

AJPH.APHAPublications.org