4 Therapeutic Aspects Of Gardening You Did Not Know About

Waking up to fresh, green nature planted and nurtured by you will bring you an unusual amount of peace and happiness. Understand why this happens.

Written By: Kinkini Gupta | Updated : August 22, 2022 2:00 PM IST

Waking up in a house surrounded by greeneries and the fresh smell of beautiful plants and flowers has an unusual effect serenity and happiness. This cannot be replaced or compared with anything else. As a matter of fact, this can work wonders on mental health especially if the plants and greenery you are surrounded with was planted and nurtured by you. According to a study published in the journal PLOS One, there are amazing therapeutic effects of gardening and being connected to nature. In the study, a group of women between age 26 to 49 were subjected to a four week long gardening activity. This significantly improved their mental health.

Experts Recommend Gardening For Mental Health

Nature has so many unknown ways that benefit humans. It can help improve your concentration power, lower stress, sharpen your cognitive skills, better your mood, boost empathy and reduce risks of mental health disorders. according to a study conducted in 2019, if you spend at least two hours in the nature doing anything, it will help boost you overall well-being.

Your brain has a certain chemical that get positively affected when you are gardening. Experts say that it helps boost dopamine in the brain and that is how people who spend more time with nature are happier and in a better mood that others. Dopamine is the feel good hormone in your brain and can make you feel a sense of euphoria and pleasure.
Staying physically connected to the soil can trigger the release of serotonin or the happiness hormone. This happens because when you come in contact with soil, a bacteria present in the soil called Mycobacterium vaccae triggers the hormones release.
Gardening also includes physical activities such as digging, weeding and raking. This also benefits mental health as it will make you come out of your house and be involved in some sort of physical pursuits. Exercising as you already know will help with cognitive function, bettering your mood and also your self esteem.
Gardening also ensures that you are exposed to sunshine and vitamin D. According to studies, exposure to the morning and evening sun rays can help with mental health conditions like depression. Experts recommend not to expose yourself to the afternoon sun because of UV rays. Sunshine in general is good for mental well-being.

Gardening is an activity that will not cost you a lot of money. You do not have to buy expensive plants. Any plant that you can afford and that you like will work. The main point of gardening is to be around nature, be it any kind of nature.