Gardening Makes us Happier and Healthier, Research Suggests

Everyone who's ever claimed that gardening is therapeutic — you had it right! A wide range of scientific studies conducted in recent years confirms the long-held intuition that gardening is good for your overall well being. Why? The reasons are complex, but encouraging, and have to do with how both our minds and bodies respond to the act. 

The findings of a 2016 study 'suggest that gardening can improve physical, psychological, and social health, which can, from a long-term perspective, alleviate and prevent various health issues facing today's society.' 

Researchers from Japan and the UK performed a meta-analysis (research that combines results from multiple different studies) on 22 case studies to uncover the effects of gardening on people from the USA, Iran, Norway, China, Japan, South Korea, the UK and the Netherlands. 

The age of participants ranged from 80+ to under 10. Some of the groups were made up of people suffering from depression, others dementia, while there were also many regular gardeners and control groups included for comparison.

As many avid gardeners will know, gardening is a challenging yet highly rewarding hobby that can help improve your mood. 

The meta-analysis confirmed that, across the board, gardening improves one's mental and physical well being. It found 'a wide range of health outcomes, such as reductions in depression, anxiety, and body mass index, as well as increases in life satisfaction, quality of life, and sense of community.'

One of the reasons why gardening has such a broad-spectrum impact on our health is because doing it encourages us to take up other physical activities. Being outdoors with your hands in the soil makes you more likely to spend time in nature elsewhere while walking, running, or cycling. According to the study, this in turn leads to a lower BMI. Thirty minutes of 'moderate intensity gardening' also helped elderly people achieve their recommended level of exercise for the day. 

The researchers gave three other reasons why they believed that the overall study reported such positive results:

1. People who garden feel more connected with nature, which has been proven to enhance mental well being.
2. Gardens — particularly community ones — provide a space for people to interact and socialise. This decreases feelings of loneliness and isolation and gives people a sense of community.
3. More indirectly, gardening makes people more likely to grow and eat their greens, which leads to a better diet and improved physical health. 

Nature is the theme of this year's Mental Health Awareness Week. With regard to mental health, much research goes to show that it's not just spending time in nature that counts, it's how we interact with it. Gardening is a great way to do both and there's no doubt that its popularity has soared over the past year due to restrictions that have kept us at home. It's also never too late to take up the hobby — with so many positive health benefits, there's plenty of reasons to give it a go!

Not sure where to start? Browse local Garden Centres in the 'Shopping' tab of the app.

Source: Soga, M., Gaston, K. J., & Yamaura, Y. (2016). Gardening is beneficial for health: A meta-analysis. Preventive medicine reports, 5, 92–99. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pmedr.2016.11.007.