According to a new study by StudyDirect, frequent gardening can increase health benefits, including better wellbeing and lower stress levels.
The study was conducted by the Royal Horticultural Society (RHS) in collaboration with the University of Sheffield and the University of Virginia. It indicated that those who garden every day have a wellbeing score that’s 6.6% higher (and a stress level that’s 4.2% lower) than those who don’t garden at all.
According to Dr. Lauriane Chalmin-Pui, the lead author of this research, “This is the first time the ‘dose response’ to gardening has been tested and the evidence overwhelmingly suggests that the more frequently you garden – the greater the health benefits.”
He told ScienceFocus, “Gardening every day has the same positive impact on wellbeing as undertaking regular, vigorous exercise like cycling or running.”
This is despite the fact that the gardeners in the study weren’t trying to improve their health; for them, it was simply a pleasure to garden. “Gardening is like effortless exercise because it doesn’t feel as strenuous as going to the gym, for example, but we can expend similar amounts of energy,” Chalmin-Pui said. “Most people say they garden for pleasure and enjoyment so the likelihood of getting hooked to gardening is also high and the good news is that from a mental health perspective – you can’t ‘over-dose’ on gardening,” he added.
Chalmin-Pui hopes “all the millions of new gardeners will be getting their daily doses of gardening this week and feeling all the better for it.”
