Gardening As Therapy
Even if you don't have a green thumb, you can benefit from a bit of garden therapy. Gardening benefits the body as well as the mind, and has been shown to positively affect everyone, including hospital patients, children and anyone wanting to exercise their mind.
Nature's Health Plan
Noted author Eva Shaw reports many psychological benefits of gardening in her book Shovel It: Nature's Health Plan. Her research findings show that gardening can:
• Lower blood pressure
• Reduce depression
• Cut the effects of chronic fatigue
• Reduce the need for pain medication
What's more, Shaw found that people who garden generate the same brainwaves as people who meditate, and grief-stricken people who worked in a garden recovered faster than those who didn't.
Environmental psychologist Roger Ulrich reports similar results in his research. His studies show that even just viewing a garden or nature has healthy psychological benefits and can help people heal and recover faster. Many hospitals now have gardens as part of their facilities because Ulrich's research has shown that people with wounds or other physical problems heal faster if exposed to gardens or landscapes. By focusing less on themselves and more on plants, they have a more positive outlook.
Brain Workout
Gardening gives us a chance to be creative. Think of plants as a box of crayons or paints, and the "canvas" you can create usually provides a great deal of satisfaction along with a sense of accomplishment.
Plants serve as mental refreshment. Research by Dr. Virginia Lohr found that when interior plants or flower arrangements are placed in an interior work environment, employee work productivity is increased and absenteeism is decreased.
Curing Nature-Deficit Disorder
In his book, Last Child in the Woods: Saving Our Children From Nature-Deficit Disorder, journalist Richard Louv says that many children today who spend too much time "indoors" being physically inactive and not engaged in the natural world suffer from nature-deficit disorder. He reports that the symptoms of nature-deficit disorder are ADHD, depression and obesity.
Gardening requires us to live in garden time. We all could use a lesson in slowing down, and the garden therapy you can find in your own backyard might be cheaper than a therapist.
