The Benefits of a Garden

5 Ways a Garden Helps Your Mental Health

Did you know gardens have many benefits that support mental health? I always knew there were benefits of a garden because I always felt there, but didn’t know there was data to support my theory. Studies show that a gardens can reduce stress and negative emotions, can boost mood and positive emotions, improve attention span and focus, provide a fun way to exercise, and create a beautiful area to hang out with loved ones. This is exactly why I decided to open The Wellness Garden Tool Shed. It’s a place to get your hair done, get your tarot cards read, and find tools for the mind, body, and soul in a beautiful garden. https://www.webmd.com/mental-health/how-gardening-affects-mental-health

Whenever I feel overwhelmed with everyday tasks for work and personal life, I start to pull weeds. I’m surrounded by beautiful roses, nasturtiums, herbs, hydrangeas, just to name a few. I also have a pond with a waterfall and water creatures to create a soothing and welcoming ambiance. I immediately begin to relax when I’m in my backyard. When you relax (like in meditating) your blood pressure lowers and so does your cortisol levels. It’s a form of distraction that makes you forget about the things that were causing anxiety or stress. There’s some sort of connection between being in dirt and grounding yourself.

The next time you feel stressed out, go into your garden and see if it helps. Now, I know some of you reading this will say they may not have a garden, then get some house plants. Decorating your house with plants and crystals/rocks are almost as good as being outdoors. Open the window, take in fresh air, and surround your space with the outdoors inside. It offers beauty and peace. At the Wellness Garden Tool Shed you can find garden or house décor in our store. https://wellnessgardentoolshed.com/product/volcanic-stone-lotus-yoga-goddess-statue/

Boosting Your Mood

Believe it or not, gardens can boost your mood and make you feel more positive. The colors in a garden stimulates all of your five senses visually, olfactorily, auditorily, and tacitly. And in some cases with a vegetable garden, your taste buds will get a treat.

Smell or olfactory is one of the strongest and triggered senses we have. It brings back memories in an instant. Star jasmine takes me back to my childhood, when I lived in Hayward and belonged to a swim club. I can see the chain linked fence covered with star jasmine and smell the sweet fragrance of the flower. It’s one of my more positive memories of my childhood. What smell takes you back to a fond place in time? The funny thing about our brain is that it doesn’t know the difference between the past and future, so it only thinks that things are happening now. It’s a wonderful tool to melt negative thinking away quickly.

Nature offers an abundance of colors and textures in plants. I personally like all of them. Maybe not so much of the prickly ones like cacti, but there’s a place for them. Lamb ears are just that, soft as lambs ears. And there’s nothing like the vivid colors that bloom as spring hits. I sure wish tulips lasted longer. But we can’t underestimate the power of color. Bold colors like reds can give you energy, where as oranges and yellows can inspire creativity. Light blues and purples offer relaxation, and greens offer peacefulness. Color has been used purposefully in restaurants to stimulate appetite, or in locker rooms to enhance aggression or create lethargy depending if you’re the home team or not. You can create a colorful garden to suite all of your needs and moods. What are some of your favorite colors in the garden?

Focus, Attention Span, and Immune System

While you’re in your garden pulling weeds, pruning roses, or whatever has you moving in the yard, you are breathing in more oxygen. After all, it can be a form of exercise; bending, stretching, reaching, pulling, and walking around. Cardio gets that oxygen flowing to your brain and muscles. The number one exercise for memory care is cardio. And let’s face it, being around all that greenery is producing more oxygen for a better air quality, something we desperately need. https://www.health.harvard.edu/exercise-and-fitness/working-out-your-brain#:~:text=Cardio%20exercise%20strengthens%20the%20heart%20and%20improves%20blood,caused%20by%20reduced%20blood%20flow%20to%20the%20brain.

My grandma was an avid gardener and gardened late into her 90’s. She spent a few hours a day pulling weed, turning dirt for her bulbs, and trimming whatever needed trimming. She lived to be a couple of weeks shy of 100 years old. If that doesn’t give you an example of the benefits of a garden, I don’t know what would.

The chances are you’ll be gardening during the day. You will get your vitamin D which is vital for your body. It helps the absorption of calcium. It can influence the production of serotonin, a neurotransmitter that affects mood and emotions. Another thing that helps your immune system is phytoncides. Phytoncides have antibacterial and antifungal qualities that fight diseases in plants. While we breathe those in, during gardening, we are receiving the same benefits; boosting our immunities.

A Beautiful Space For You and Others

Covid19 had a profound impact, physically and psychologically, on our world. Everything has changed from loss of loved ones, families and friendships, jobs, the health industry, and gatherings. During the pandemic many of us gathered in our yards to have some sort of connection with people. We are a social species. It’s important to have connection and a sense of belonging. I believe it’s been said that it is the most important thing that comes up during studies regarding happiness.

A beautiful garden space allows everyone to feel the effects and benefits, from relaxing, grounding, being productive, being inspired, getting healthy, and celebrating with our loved ones. Being surrounded by friends and family in a space that appeals to all the senses, is happiness and wellness for all. It’s summer here in this norther hemisphere, will you be hosting or invited to a garden party? Hopefully, and when you do, think back to this blog and I bet you’ll notice the benefits of a garden.

The glory of gardening: hands in the dirt, head in the sun, heart with nature. To nurture a garden is to feed not just on the body, but the soul.

Alfred Austin

By Leah E. Reinhart