The Health Benefits of Gardening

From VOA Learning English, this is the
Health & Lifestyle Report.

As spring comes to half the world, many
people can enjoy the new growth that comes with warmer weather. This is a great
time to get outside and get dirty!

Gardening is popular in many parts of the
world. This outdoor activity gives us beautiful plants, pleasant smelling
flowers and fresh fruits and vegetables.

But it also gives us many health benefits.

Reduces loneliness

Gardening connects people. When you are
gardening, you are outdoors. So it is a perfect time to socialize with your
neighbors.

Most people love to talk about their
hobbies, and gardeners are no different. They usually enjoy showing people what
they are growing. And most enjoy sharing advice and stories about their gardens
almost as much as sharing herbs, flowers and vegetables from their gardens.

Gardening can greatly widen a person’s
community.

Some people may not have the resources to
have their own garden. So, many cities and towns have community gardens. You
can either volunteer or just visit to learn more.

Check what resources are available to you
in your area. If there are no community gardens near you, there may be
government money available to help you start one.

Healthy activity for children

Gardening is a great activity to do with
children. It gets families outdoors and off computers, televisions and other
electronics.

Gardening can be a great teacher.

Children can learn about nature and
wildlife. Gardening can teach a child about where food comes from and healthy
eating. It can also help them to understand the limits of natural resources and
the importance of using them carefully.

Vitamin D

When you are in your garden, you might feel
the sunshine on your skin. This means you are getting Vitamin D.

Vitamin D helps our bodies use calcium.
That is necessary to keep bones strong. Vitamin D also helps us fight diseases.

Exercise

Also, when you garden you must move around.
All the different movements needed for gardening -- bending, twisting,
stretching and lifting -- work small muscles in the body.

And you can easily get a good work out when
you are digging holes or pulling weeds.

Stress

Gardening may also help you to feel calm
and happy.

A study by researchers in the Netherlands
found that gardening may reduce the stress hormone cortisol in the brain.

Scientists say that high levels of cortisol
in the body interfere with learning and memory. It can also increase a person’s
weight, blood pressure and cholesterol levels. Chronic, high levels of cortisol
increase the risk for depression, mental illness and lower life expectancy.

In the study, the researchers gave 30
gardeners a difficult, stressful task. After completing the task, researchers
measured their cortisol levels. The gardeners self-reported on their mood, or
how they felt emotionally.

Then the gardeners were asked to recover by
either gardening outdoors or reading indoors for 30 minutes.

Both activities led to lower cortisol
levels. However, the decreases were stronger in the gardening group. Also,
those who gardened reported that their good moods returned fully. The readers
found that their bad moods only got worse.

Dementia and brain health

Gardening may help your brain stay young.

In another study in 2006, researchers
looked at more than 2,800 people over the age of 60. They studied their
lifestyle habits, activities and health over a 16-year period. They found that
gardening could lower risk of future dementia by 36 percent.

Activities such as gardening uses many
repeated actions, such as weeding or dead-heading (removing dying flowers from
a plant). These actions have a calming effect on the brain. The brain is still
active but not in the same way that it is, say, when we use computers.

In our technology-filled lives, gardening
offers a chance to unplug. You cannot hold a phone or other electronic devices
when your hands are filled with dirt.

Gardening can also give you the feeling
that you have done something good.

A flower and herb garden can help feed bees
and butterflies. Growing herbs and flowers, even in a of couple of pots at your
city home, connects you to nature and pleases all of your senses.

What you grow in a garden usually looks,
smells, feels and tastes really good.

And that's the Health & Lifestyle
report. I'm Anna Matteo.

Anna Matteo wrote this story. Caty Weaver
was the editor.

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Words in This Story

garden – n. an area of ground where plants
(such as flowers or vegetables) are grown; gardening – n. the activity of
tending and cultivating a garden, especially as a pastime

hobby – n. an interest or activity engaged
in for pleasure

lonely – adj. sad from being apart from
other people : loneliness – n. the state of feeling lonely

bend – v. to move your body so that it is
not straight

twist – v. to turn a part of your body
around

stress – n. a state of mental tension and worry
caused by problems in your life, work, etc.

hormone – n. a natural substance that is
produced in the body and that influences the way the body grows or develops

chronic – adj. medical : continuing or
occurring again and again for a long time

mood – n. the way someone feels : a
person's emotional state

dementia –​ n. a
mental illness that causes someone to be unable to think clearly or to
understand what is real and what is not real