Getting Your Hands in the Dirt Isn’t Just Good for the Soil: The Mental Health Benefits of Gardening
Few things are as satisfying as playing in the dirt–and especially when actually growing food is the the result of your labor and play. Gardening can provide numerous benefits for your mental wellbeing as well. Horticultural therapy, or gardening as therapy, has been shown to reduce stress, anxiety, and depression. The physical act of gardening engages both your body and mind, allowing you to find inner calm and a sense of presence.
Working with the earth and watching plants grow provides a sense of purpose and fulfillment, in part, because nurturing living things can be therapeutic. When you garden, your fingers and palms absorb bacteria from the soil, such as Mycobacterium, that naturally improve mood as it increases serotonin and dopamine levels in the brain. Simply spending time in nature, whether an elaborate garden or just potting a plant, offers stress relief.
And at the end of the season, if you are a successful gardener, you can provide food for yourself, your family or your friends. Feeding and nurturing those you love provides a sense of community that is hard to come by another way.
Gardening presents a gentle, productive way to stay active. The mindfulness required to tend plants can distract from ruminating thoughts and many also find healing gardens to be restorative spaces.
If you want to experience the therapeutic effects of gardening for yourself, consider starting some seeds indoors or planting a small herb garden that you can enjoy all season. You don't need a large yard to reap the rewards - even container gardening on a patio or balcony provides opportunities for stress relief and mental wellbeing.
Or better yet, join our
upcoming gardening group. We’ll increase our wellness, our gardening skills and build community by gardening together.
You may be surprised by how calming and uplifting it can feel to nurture living things with your own hands. Gardening truly is good for the mind as well as the earth.
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