Celebrating Earth Month – 5 benefits of gardening for seniors
Earth Day celebrations don’t have to be limited to April 22. Instead, Earth Month, spanning the entire month of April, should be a time for you to consider how much time you spend outside. Could it be more? Getting outside might not seem like an important part of your health routine, but it has more impacts than you may realize.
Among other outdoor activities, gardening is a rewarding activity shared by people old and young alike. Even if you’ve never tried it before, there’s never a better time to start than now. Flowers are bright and cheerful and conjure a smile on anyone who sees them, and fruits and vegetables are beautiful as they are delicious. Either way, the long process of watching the fruits of your labor develop is charming and engaging throughout the entire warm season.
So, grab a shovel or call your local community garden – it’s time to play in the dirt!
Reduce stress and anxiety
Aging adults often deal with plenty of stressors that feel out of their control, such as health conditions, loss of loved ones, and relocating out of longtime homes. According to the American Psychological Association, exposure to nature can result in lower stress, reduced risk of psychiatric disorders and even upticks in empathy and cooperation. To ease your worrying mind, spend some time planting a flower arrangement in your yard or starting a backyard veggie garden.
Reduce the risk of dementia
Gardening is a fun activity that involves several aspects of memory practice and knowledge use. It requires watering, fertilizing, and harvesting schedules, and sometimes these schedules are not the same for all the plants you grow. Checking up on your plants each day is a good thing, though—research shows that daily gardening may lower the risk of dementia up to 36% in aging adults. Starting with one potted plant will engage you enough to reap some of these benefits.
Boost your immune system
Nearly everything outside plays a part in boosting your immune system. Fresh air has been known to clean the lungs and boost circulation, leaving us feeling more energized. Vitamin D from the sun is a necessary nutrient for our survival, and it’s one that many older adults don’t get enough of. But something you may not expect is the effect of soil, which has tiny microbes that can affect humans positively. Exposure to these microbes can lead to a more robust immune system and boost resistance to asthma and allergies, according to the University of Vermont.
Stay up and active
Gardens require almost daily tending to, so they are a commitment from the start. This low impact and rewarding activity is a great way to stay engaged with a healthy exercise routine that gets you up, moving around, and out of the house. Gardening flowers is much less labor-intensive than gardening larger fruits and veggies, like squashes and pumpkins. Depending on your comfort level and the challenge you’re up for, choose some plants that will require the level of care you’re ready to give each day or throughout the week.
Lift your mood
Nothing tastes more satisfying than homegrown vegetables that you grew yourself, from garden to table. Nothing makes you smile quite like a sunflower. All of these things are true, and studies have shown that tending to a small garden boosts mood similarly to other more involved forms of exercise, like cycling or running. And though all types of gardens have shown to be beneficial to mental health, people who grew their own food seemed particularly joyful when tending to their gardens.
A garden is a fantastic way to celebrate the Earth that we call home and the magic that we can make of it. Visiting Angels caregivers can assist you in getting out to your garden each day with the materials you need and encourage you to keep at it. Visiting Angels Toms River offers in-home caregivers that can help you develop a daily routine, including medication reminders, exercise reminders, and meal planning and preparation. Imagine how exciting it will be to incorporate your own fruits and veggies into dinner! Learn about how an in-home caregiver can assist you with a wide range of daily care services throughout the Greater Toms River – Brick area and Ocean County communities at (732) 240-1050.