Gardening and stress… How gardening could help you with stress relief? Today we will talk about this subject.
Stress finds its way into our lives one way or another. A little bit of stress is not a bad thing, it is even positive. But long time chronic stress is a big problem for nowadays society that could end up making our lives miserable.
Today’s topic is about gardening and stress so let’s explore it!
Gardening and Stress
If you need a break from the worry, anxiety, and stress that you are experiencing, gardening could be your option.
As we all already know how much damage chronic stress can do to your body and mind. Your mental health and well-being could be impacted and that is the opposite of health. Little stress never hurts anyone, but chronic stress is a completely different thing.
It is good to have a healthy way to cope with stress so you would avoid health issues in the past and live a happier life. You need to take care of yourself and gardening could help you with that.
Here is what gardens can do for you:
1. Gardening Reduces Stress
Gardening can really reduce your stress, worry, and anxiety and make you feel better. It is great for your mental health.
Working in the garden is great for stress relief because it reduces cortisol (stress hormone) levels.
A 2010 study showed that gardening decreases cortisol and positive mood was restored. It seemed that gardening can promote relief from stress better than reading a book.
Just being in a garden helps too and makes you feel better. If your garden is outside your home and you have a nice view from your windows, it is helpful for your mental health.
A 1984 study showed that a room with a window view of a natural setting might help with healing after surgery. Hospitals implement gardens to prevent the burnout of medicinal personnel.
2. Gardening as Exercise
I think we all know that exercise is great for stress relief and for our overall health. If we are working in the garden, that is exercise too. Right? We are moving, stretching and walking, and doing actions like raking and weeding.
A 2018 post in Clinical Medical journal shows that gardening is beneficial to mental and physical health. Health professionals encourage their patients to do gardening and see that as a great exercise that helps to heal.
A 2006 study shows that daily gardening may help of reducing the incidence of dementia in future years.
3. Gardening as Immune System Boost
When you are doing some work in a garden that involves working with soil, you are being exposed to friendly soil microbes that boost your immunity if done on regular basis. A few years ago it was found a bacterium (Mycobacterium vaccae) that helps to deal with stress-related disorders. It is great for stress reduction.
A 2016 study shows that they used this bacterium in experiments with rodents and it was injected into them. It showed that it altered their behavior, worked as an antidepressant, and had long-lasting anti-inflammatory effects.
To conclude this, we still really don’t have any idea what kind of treasures hides in the soil that can benefit our health and well-being. This was just one bacterium that is good for stress relief.
Gardening for Myself
Of course, gardening couldn’t work for everyone and help them with stress management. For example, my mom doesn’t really like to touch soil even if she was growing up in a house with a garden.
If I am talking about myself, being in the garden and doing some stuff there makes me calmer, but I can’t spend much time in the garden.
A few hours there is enough for me and I usually don’t need or want to spend more time working in the garden.
Garden for me gives also a sense of beauty and I am enjoying looking at blossoms, new sprouts, and colorful flowers and at the same time smelling the nice aroma that the garden has to offer.
After coming home from the garden, I always feel happy even if I am a little bit tired. The garden feels good for my well-being. I even have some plants in the flat, because I love to have green living things with me, but that is another story.
If you don’t know if it is for you or not, try it and that would not cost you anything. If you don’t have a garden, no worry, green spaces, being in nature, is a great thing on it is own and so amazing for stress relief, physical and mental health.
Enjoy the wind in your hair, the soil between your fingers, and the amazing smell of roses.
Do gardening, be in nature and your health will say thank you.
Conclusion
Now you know about gardening and stress and how they are related. Gardening is really great for your health and well-being, and it surely reduces stress, and anxiety and makes you feel better.
If you have a garden, that is great, but if not, just being outside in nature is excellent stress relief and so amazing for your well-being. So no worry, just go out for a walk in parks, and forests and enjoy nature. 🙂
What do you think about gardening? What do you think about gardening as a tool to reduce stress and benefit your health? Do you have a garden? Are you doing gardening? How does it make you feel? Let me know and write an answer to the comment section below!
If you are interested more in how green spaces and nature can help you with stress relief, CLICK HERE and found out more.
Do you wanna know more about how nature can help you deal with stress and heal yourself, CLICK HERE for more information.
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Thanks!
Have a nice day! See you soon
Linda Mo
Founder and owner of How To Reduce Stress Naturally