Official BBC News

Well it's official ... After many years of research ......it's now been confirmed
GARDENERS ARE HAPPIER THAN NONE GARDENERS
Yep it was on the telly ... Even monty don confirmed it ..... So it must be true. BBC Breakfast News

Just wonder how many millions of pounds this research cost.......

 

Ah, but think of the unemployment benefit saved by getting a bunch of nerdies to compile this most useful information Doug,
another reason to be cheerful...
Jenny

 

Haha "nerdies". That is officially my word of the day ...will try and get it into every conversation I have today.............

 

When I lived in Sheffield, I was looking for a volunteering job to fill a bit of free time. I never got round to doing it (most of the schemes were either in work time or badly organised and managed).

One scheme was an allotment that had been taken on by a group of volunteers who wanted to improve the mental health of those who'd had some form of mental illness, ranging from regular depression to full blown mental breakdowns. They'd become so successful in their rehabilitation works that the NHS doctor's surgery included it in their arsenal of possible treatments for people.

Basically the idea is that there are no patients on the allotment, just people. The more stable ones helping to supervise the ones that are still in the deepest darkest place in their illness. Apparently when on the allotment, everyone was pretty much ordinary, and the combination of relaxing environment, closeness to nature, community etc helped people to reorganising their mental processes allowing them to heal. Sounded excellent. I nearly volunteered, then I thought, hmm, people suffering paranoid delusions armed with gardening implements. So I didn't bother. It does show though that it must be beneficial. If it can help to heal even fairly extreme mental illnesses, there must be something in it.