Gardening may improve mental health: Even if they have never gardened before, a new study reveals that many individuals may benefit from engaging with plants for their mental health.
Researchers from the University of Florida discovered that gardening activities reduced stress, anxiety. And sadness in healthy women who took twice-weekly gardening workshops. Their findings publish in the journal PLOS ONE.
“Previous studies have shown that gardening may assist persons with underlying medical illnesses or difficulties in improving their mental health.
According to Charles Guy, the study’s primary investigator and a professor emeritus in the UF/IFAS environmental horticulture department, gardening may help healthy individuals feel better mentally.
The UF Wilmot Botanical Gardens also served as the site for all the study treatment sessions, the UF College of Medicine, and the UF Center for Arts in Medicine.
And the environmental horticulture department made up the multidisciplinary team of researchers who co-authored the paper. The survey complete by 32 women between the ages of 26 and 49.
All of the participants in this investigation were in excellent health, which included screening for things like long-term illnesses, drug and tobacco usage, prescription medicine use, and use of tobacco products.
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Half of the participants were given art-making workshops, while the other half give gardening activities. Each group had two weekly meetings for a total of eight sessions.
The gardening group use as a benchmark in contrast to the art group. “Art and gardening both utilize therapeutically in medical settings, including planning, learning, creativity, and physical activity.
gardening may improve mental health
According to science, they are thus more equivalent than, say, gardening and bowling or gardening and reading, Guy said.
Participants in the gardening classes learned how to choose and plant seeds. Transplant various plant species, and harvest and taste delicious plants. Participants in the art-making courses picked up collage, printing, sketching, and papermaking skills.
A set of evaluations evaluating mood, stress, anxiety, and depression perform by participants. The study’s findings revealed that the gardening and art-making groups gradually improved their mental health, with the gardeners expressing a little less worry than the artists.
The researchers were nonetheless able to provide proof of what medical doctors would refer to as the dose effects of gardening. Or how much gardening someone needs to do to notice changes in mental health. Despite the relatively small number of participants and the duration of the trial.
Guy said that “larger-scale investigations may reveal more regarding the relationship between gardening and alterations in mental health.” “We think this study has potential for mental health, using plants in medicine, and public health. It would be wonderful to see other researchers build their reflections on our findings.
Therapeutic horticulture, often known as gardening for health and welfare, has been a concept since the 19th century. But why do we feel better when we are among plants?
The research authors suggest that the significance of plants in human evolution. And the development of civilization may hold the key to the solution.
We humans may have a natural attraction to plants since we rely on them for food, shelter, and other necessities of life. However, the researchers observed that many study participants left the trial with a fresh enthusiasm. Whatever the underlying causes may be.
At the trial’s conclusion, several participants expressed their desire to continue gardening in addition to how much they had loved the sessions, Guy added.
