Thank Goodness For Gardening
What a year last week was. These are difficult times. Businesses closed, most of us working from home, instructions to avoid human contact and stay at least six feet away from each other.
There are not a lot of activities one can do now except...gardening.
Thank goodness for gardening and all of the benefits it brings. The health benefits of gardening, both physical and mental, are numerous. Gardening can also be done without being too close to another person, which is important these days.
Gardening Is Good For Your Physical Health
Gardening is good, physical, hard work. Whether lifting shrubs or bags of mulch, wheelbarrowing soil or simply pulling weeds, gardening can be a strenuous workout. It causes one to breathe deep, raises one’s heart rate and can stretch out the muscles. Who needs a gym when there is a garden?
If you are growing a vegetable garden, the benefits are even greater. There is nothing healthier, or tastier for that matter, than home grown vegetables. Eating plenty of vegetables is a great way to stay healthy.
Gardening Is Good For Your Mental Health
Hard work, fresh air and sunshine are a prescription for feeling better about life. There are very few feelings quite like deeply breathing fresh air and the feeling of the sun on one’s face. These things may seem trivial, but they help lead to positive feelings.
Physical exertion, such as gardening, causes the release of endorphins. Endorphins give you a positive feeling akin to the runner’s high.
And then there is the simple feeling of accomplishing something. Want to feel good about yourself, check an item off your “to do” list.
Gardening Improves Your Outlook
Gardeners are optimists. They prove it everyday when the plant a seed and hope it grows into a plant. Only an optimist would plant an acorn knowing they may never sit under the shade of the oak tree. The sheer satisfaction of watching a garden grow or seeing a flower open are reasons enough for a positive outlook.
Gardening Is Good For Relationships
Gardening is a wonderful way to strengthen relationships with loved ones. Doing any activity together, particularly one as organic as gardening, only draws people closer together. Accomplishing something with someone else strengthens bonds and friendships.
Gardening with children opens the doors to a lifelong healthy hobby for them. Sharing the wonders of the garden whether it is growing food or understanding the importance of pollinators, is very satisfying way to help children learn and grow.
Gardening Is Good For The Environment
Lastly, gardening is good for the environment. Anytime plants are introduced in a location, the location is better off. Plants produce oxygen, help clean the air and provide food for animals. Doing good while doing good.
