There is something about gardening that relaxes, comforts, and heals. One moment you’re stressed, and the next, you are in the garden, pruning and planting like you have no worries.
Researchers have done lots of study on the healing power of gardening, but their results only confirm what many already know; the healing power of gardening relieves the stress in your body and comforts your mind. The researchers call it horticultural therapy or garden therapy.
Unlike traditional therapy where you sit on a couch and discuss your feelings with a therapist, horticultural therapy doesn’t happen in rooms. It happens right at the heart of nature all around you, and with nature itself as your therapist.
You may wonder how the garden heals. What’s therapeutic about gardening? Well, here is your answer.
How Does Gardening Heal?
Here are ways the garden heals you.
1. Garden Therapy Enhances Your Cognitive Abilities
People who have suffered some setbacks in their cognitive performances would find garden therapy to be helpful. The therapy not only stops their conditions from worsening, but it also helps them get better.
And the exciting thing about gardening is that it involves a lot of activities that patients can easily adapt to heal them in the way they want. For instance, those who need to get stronger can concentrate on heavy gardening works like digging and sanding.
When they do these for extended periods of time and regularly, their muscles get stronger. Individuals who want to socialize can benefit from group gardening where they get to interact with other gardeners.
The ease of adaptation of gardening makes it one of the best therapeutic ways to make your cognitive abilities get better.
2. Garden Therapy Improves Your Sense of Responsibility
Individuals who have suffered low self-esteem and young people with difficulties in learning would find gardening helpful. When they actively take part in gardening, irrespective of how simple their tasks are, it boosts their confidence level.
It fills them with a sense of control over their surroundings. This could even be helpful for those who have trouble controlling their feelings and emotions.
3. Gardening Helps To Relieve Emotional Stress
Emotional issues affect the daily lives of the individuals who have them in no small way. Those who struggle with trauma, anger, depression, anxiety, and mental issues would find garden therapy very helpful in managing their emotions and helping them to get better.
Gardening often requires focus and concentration, but not a lot of deep thinking. This makes it a perfect diversion from the rather unhappy thoughts of those who have emotional issues.
4. Gardening Makes You Happy
Even science backs this up. When you are in a space that has a lot of green, it helps your body cut down its stress level. The release of cortisol, the hormone that has the unfortunate duty of making you feel stressed, is reduced.
Consequently, stress takes a dip, and high blood pressure follows suit. Although it isn’t restricted to them, it is of great benefit to seniors and they may gain the most from this healing advantage of gardening.
But the garden isn’t only a world of green. It is a combination of colors and smells which are great at helping you relieve your stress and making you happy.
5. Gardening Rewards You
It could frustrate you to do things repeatedly without getting the results you require. However, situations like this rarely happen in gardening. Gardening rewards you in a lot of ways.
It serves as a confidence booster for you; it gives you the feeling of self-control; and gives you a sense of responsibility. Add those to the beautiful colors of blooming flowers or the full growth of herbs; what you have is a bounty of rewards in gardening.
6. Even the View Has Its Healing Effects
According to a study by a behavioral scientist and healing gardens expert, Roger Ulrich, merely staring at the garden has its benefits. Individuals who are just healing from physical illnesses could increase their recovery rate by just gazing at the garden.
Ulrich conducted this research on some gallbladder surgery patients. Patients who had windows that looked out to full trees healed faster than others who didn’t. These patients also didn’t need to take a lot of pain medications.
And of those patients who didn’t have a window that looked out to nature close to them, patients who were shown images of nature also had similar results to the window patients. They healed faster and needed fewer pain medications.
The Bottomline
Knowing the healing power of the garden is one thing. But tapping into it is another thing entirely. You don’t have to wait for a doctor’s recommendation before you start gardening. Get proactive with your well-being today and start gardening!