How Gardening Reduces Stress and Boosts Mental Health

Gardening and Its Effect on Stress

In today’s fast-paced world, it is not hard to find an abundance of stress everywhere you look. In order to maintain both your mental and physical health, it is important to find ways to unwind. Gardening has been a rewarding activity for many and can be done by almost anyone at varying levels of involvement. Dr. Aaron Workman, a talented chiropractor at one of the highest rated car accident medical care entities in Kentucky, explains four different ways that gardening can bring joy into your life and de-stress your day.

1. Return to Nature
   We live in a world of electronic accessible information and screens, but taking part in nature can help give you an activity that is more soothing than stimulating. Digging into the soil, feeling the textures of dirt, and breathing in the fresh air can help you escape the chaos that is life. The National Institute of Health has shown that spending time in nature can reduce cortisol levels, which are associated with stress levels. Whether you are outside tending to a large garden or working on a few potted house plants on your deck, these activities help you be mindful and focus on the moment you are in.

2. Exercise
   There have been various research articles citing the benefits of exercise and its relation to endorphin release. When endorphins are released, it helps stress and anxiety decrease. Fortunately, gardening is a form of low-impact exercise that not only gets you moving but also helps endorphin release. With gardening comes digging, weeding, moving soil around, getting up and down, and pruning. Unlike other high-impact exercise, gardening can feel much more enjoyable and creative, leading to more activity, releasing more endorphins, and decreasing stress levels. These movements can get the heart pumping while giving a sense of accomplishment, further reducing stress.

3. Mindfulness
   Gardening focuses your attention on the job in front of you and will keep your mind from wandering onto your different stresses. Dropping seeds into the dirt, watching plants grow, trimming the leaves and flowers are all different forms of meditation. A quick search can provide a vast number of results that show the benefits of gardening on mental stress. According to the Journal of Environmental Psychology, gardening for just 30 minutes can significantly lower stress and improve your mood.

4. Purpose
   It all comes down to the garden you create. Whether that becomes a flower or vegetable garden, there are visible signs that you will measure your success . This can be the color of the flower or the taste of the vegetable. The plant going from seed to sprout gives a tangible sense of achievement. All these small things are part of the gardening process and help you feel like you can complete a task, which is beneficial to anyone who feels stress or anxiety.

Gardening is more than just a hobby. It is a gift that keeps on giving showing you achievements all year long. This activity benefits both body and mind. It allows a connection with nature, gives you purpose, accomplishment, low-impact exercise, and meditation. Whether you have a large garden or are just working with a few planted pots, working, and growing in the dirt allows you to find peace in a hectic world.

— This article is written by Aaron Workman, DC, one of the members of Chambers Medical Group’s team of car accident chiropractors who offer a variety of treatments and therapies ranging from diagnostic testing to various soft tissue therapies for car accidents and injuries in Kentucky.

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