Love gardening as a hobby? It’s a well-known fact that gardening keeps the body fit, but this activity does more than give you a good sweat! It is beneficial to physical and mental health. Many people enjoy doing tasks and growing plants in the garden. Gardening makes them feel happy and content, removing negative thoughts and feelings.

Top 5 Benefits of Gardening to the Health and Wellbeing

Why is gardening good for your mind and body? How does spending time around plants eases stress for many? Read on to learn more about the benefits of gardening to your health and wellbeing and find out why you should start your own garden now.

Gardening is a great workout!

Studies show that daily gardening has the same impact on your health and well-being as regular exercise. Daily gardening tones the muscles, boosts endurance and burns off excess fat. Light gardening and yard work burns about 330 calories, similar to a 30-minute walk, yoga practice, or badminton.

What makes gardening different from working out at the gym is it makes exercising fun. You’re not just lifting weight or running on the treadmill. You’re not just focusing on exerting effort to work out but on an entertaining task that takes your mind off the actual workout. Before you know it, you’ve burned hundreds of calories in just a few minutes spent in the garden!

It improves the mood

Tending to the garden gives you a more profound sense of peace and contentment, improving your mood. When you’re focused on gardening tasks, you spend less time overthinking or dwelling on negative thoughts and feelings.

At the same time, spending time outdoors releases the happy hormone serotonin. This explains why gardening makes you feel relaxed, focused, and content. Doing your morning gardening exposes you to the sun’s vitamin D, which strengthens the bones. In fact, most doctors recommend at least 20 minutes of sun exposure every day (early morning or late in the afternoon).

Releases stress and anxiety

Gardening is popular, particularly among millennials, with some 18.3 million new people taking up gardening in 2020. It’s no coincidence that many people took up gardening during the height of the pandemic. The stresses of the recent health crisis led to much fear and anxiety over the future, but thankfully, people are finding comfort in gardening.

Gardening helps relieve stress and anxiety because spending time outdoors makes you feel connected to nature. When gardening, you are taking your mind off negative thoughts and feelings. Working with your hands helps you disconnect from the stresses of daily life. The fresh air, the sunlight, and the calming sounds of nature activate brain cells to produce serotonin that eases anxiety and mild depression.

Good for the heart

If you or a loved one suffer from hypertension, heart disease, and similar ailments, you can engage in moderate-level physical activities as a form of exercise like gardening. According to The National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute, raking leaves for half an hour or so is enough physical exercise for people living with hypertension.

The great thing about gardening is it does not raise the heart rate too quickly, so it lowers blood pressure without causing further stress to the heart and arteries. Getting your hands dirty is beneficial to overall cardiovascular health, and as long as your doctor gives you the green light, you can engage in gardening to improve heart health.

Improve muscle tone

Apart from burning a lot of calories, gardening boosts coordination and stamina. It also improves the overall muscle tone. All that planting, digging, pruning, and pulling in and around the garden increases hand strength and enhances grip. On top of that, the upper body becomes stronger, particularly the chest, shoulders, and core.

People take up gardening because there’s something comforting about working with your hands. Planting and harvesting fresh produce are not only satisfying but also build positivity while strengthening relationships. So go ahead, start completing your gardening tools today and let your own gardening journey begin!