So Gardening is really good for you, they agree..!!

Marley Farley · Apr 2, 2010

:gnthb: I like to see positive articles like this.. I know I certainly find gardening very therapeutic & I do enjoy it all..!! :thumb: From the Times..

From The Times
March 27, 2010
Depressed? Try gardening as therapy
Green for get-up-and-go. Gardening can reduce your risk of stroke, heart disease and even dementia
Woman picking organic carrots from her own vegetable garden

The City IT specialist Jane Robertson was earning a small fortune in the pressured world of derivatives markets when she had a breakdown at the age of 27. A spell in a psychiatric hospital followed, then many months â??just about existingâ? in her London flat.

When she signed up to take part in a once-weekly gardening project at Chelsea Physic Garden, it was all she could do to get out of bed to attend. But, three years on, she has passed her horticultural exams and is training to be an arboriculturalist.

â??I really wanted to get my life back on track but found it incredibly difficult. Yet I felt a sense of transformation in the garden â?? it gave me a sense of calm that I hadnâ??t felt before,â? says Robertson, now 32. â??I think it was a combination of being outside and having contact with nature. It also helped me to talk about my feelings and difficulties. It was like a door had been held open and I could walk through it on my own.â?

Robertson is one of hundreds of people with mental and physical health problems who have been helped by Thrive, the national gardening-as-therapy charity, which will exhibit its first garden at the Chelsea Flower Show in May. Many of the plants will have been grown at the charityâ??s gardens in Reading and Battersea, southwest London, by people with severe depression or Alzheimerâ??s disease and those who are recovering from strokes or brain injury or who have learning difficulties.

â??There is a massive amount of evidence about the beneficial effects of gardening, ever since the court physicians in the time of the pharaohs used to prescribe walks around the gardens to mentally disturbed royals,â? says Nicola Carruthers, the chief executive of Thrive. â??But you can have a window box, with one tomato plant, and you will still benefit: that seed needs to be looked after, and by taking responsibility for something you can ultimately take pride in yourself again. Weâ??ve seen people with depression who canâ??t speak when they come to us, but who have ended up reducing their medication after working in our garden.â?

However, we can all benefit from gardeningâ??s unique combination of the physical (fresh air, vitamin D and exercise) and the psychological: the distraction of a purposeful task plus the calming effect of nature. Research has indicated that even looking at nature can result in a fall in blood pressure within five minutes and lower our stress hormones.

Gardening also boosts endorphins, the bodyâ??s good-mood chemicals. Other studies have found that an hour of gardening a day reduces the risk of heart disease and stroke and increases bone density more efficiently than aerobics or swimming. One 16-year study in Australia revealed that those who did daily gardening even cut their risk of getting dementia in later life.

â??Itâ??s a bit of a clichÃ© to say that gardening is good for you,â? says Dr Jo Aldridge, from Loughborough University, who has studied gardening as therapy. â??But we were certainly not expecting to see the results that we did: it lifted mood; it was purposeful without being taxing; and it taught new skills. A lot of the people we talked to described it as a bit like the calm brought by meditation. Some said that it should be on prescription â?? and we found that some forward-thinking GPs were referring patients to gardening projects.â?

Professor Michael Hyland, from the University of Plymouth, has a word of warning for the gardening flag-wavers, however: if you think of gardening as a chore you wonâ??t get the benefits. â??The big mistake is to think of it as medicine; itâ??s not. Itâ??s like any hobby, such as pottery or woodwork: if it makes you happy it will make you healthy.â?
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loopy lou · Apr 2, 2010

i agree! i love to be in the garden or down at the lottie - i love to sit in my shed doorway having a coffee and gazing at the countryside, its a haven of peace and quiet

loopy

Sussexgardener · Apr 2, 2010

Good article. There's an excellent book written by Rosie Boycott, called 'Our Farm'. She used to be the Editor of the Daily Express, but following a bad car crash (while under the influence) she and her husband took on the lease of an old market garden in Somerset. She too agrees that gardening (and animal husbandry) was hugely therapeutic for her.

When I was in a stressful job a few years ago, I found coming home after work and a potter about in the garden for an hour hgely beneficial for my stress and annoyance levels. I couldn't be without it now.

The only thing I find not therapeutic is what gardening does to my bank balance...and I'm off to hit it further this afternoon at my favourite Nursery! Oh well, you can't take money with you...

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So Gardening is really good for you, they agree..!!

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So Gardening is really good for you, they agree..!!

Marley Farley Affable Admin! Staff Member

loopy lou Gardener

Sussexgardener Gardener

Question about no dig gardening

New to gardening - deadheading?

Completely new to gardening! Hello from Bedfordshire

No dig gardening

National Gardening Day!

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