Therapeutic Benefits of Gardening
Gardening enthusiasts often say that gardening is therapeutic. This evaluation may be more true than you think. Gardening can improve health and produce self-produced nutritious food, but its therapeutic effects go further. From relaxation and stress relief to formal therapist-led plans, along the garden path, mental and emotional health is actively promoted.
Gardening has a long history in the United States, and its therapeutic benefits are part of it. The first horticultural therapy course was established in 1972 as part of the Kansas State University Mental Health Program. It’s sensory-oriented and plant-based, full of fragrance, color and texture.
In such recreational retreats, one can enjoy the benefits of treatment, including reducing stress and anxiety and increasing hope and happiness.
The healing nature of the garden environment interacts with nature. Even simple viewing of trees or visiting a garden-like environment can produce significant therapeutic effects. It has been proven that hospital patients after surgery who see trees through hospital windows heal faster than similar patients who saw the wall. Not only has the length of hospital stay shortened, but patients who observe trees also have fewer complications, take fewer painkillers, and nurses make fewer negative comments about the table.
Viewing the garden from the balcony has been shown to improve the mood of depressed and non-depressed patients-depressed elderly participants in a study. However, visit the garden and walk or sit in it to do more. Participants’ depression was reduced, and they reported improvements in mood, sleep quality, and concentration, as well as more peace of mind and hope.
Research also shows that spending time in the garden can ease the symptoms of Alzheimer’s disease. Alzheimer’s disease and dementia, including aggression and agitation. And reduce the use of drugs.
However, the benefits of caring for living plants, even single indoor plants, go beyond the green landscape. Studies have shown that plant care is valuable for people facing challenging personal environments that cannot be controlled, which can have a negative impact on physical and mental health.
In a study, elderly assisted living residents underwent a 4-week houseplant care course and received the responsibility of a factory. Compared with residents who do not engage in gardening, indoor gardeners have significantly higher self-evaluations in terms of health, happiness, and quality of life. The staff also pointed out that gardeners need less staff attention, are more alert and sociable, and take greater responsibility for their actions and choices.
Indoor gardening has also been proven to reduce restlessness and improve sleep. The urge and controlling the well-being of plants also improves the well-being of caregivers. Gardening, growth, and the healing power of the community. When evaluating the benefits of gardening, gardeners often notice a reduction in stress, tension, and anxiety. Research shows that this is more than just a feeling.
A study asked participants to complete a mental stress task and then measured cortisol, a hormone the body produces in response to stress. This was followed by a gardening or reading period. Although the cortisol levels of the two groups were lower after these activities, the cortisol levels of the gardening group were significantly lower, showing that the body is more effective in relieving acute stress. They also report that their mood has improved even more.
The community garden has great hope as an effective treatment extension for people suffering from PTSD and drug or alcohol dependence, and even children and adults facing problems. Typical pressures of modern city life.
Especially working together, gardening and growing food can generate significant benefits. These include improvement in self-esteem, teamwork, social interaction, planning, problem-solving and coping skills, and a passion for gardening and community that can last a lifetime. As a result, after three months of growing fruits and vegetables in a therapeutic community gardening program, patients diagnosed with clinical depression had significantly reduced depression and cognitive distortions.
Children in the Youth Rehabilitation Center who took part in the gardening project learned to manage their emotions and behaviors more effectively, and they had a better understanding of themselves. Most of them also stated that they plan to continue gardening after moving in.
Whether they are enjoying the fruits of other people’s efforts in the garden or digging the ground with a shovel and hoe, gardens and gardening can help bring peace and healing to people. Life. In a 2016 survey conducted by Serena Barello, Guendalina Graffigna, Julia Menichetti, Matteo Sozzi, Mariarosaria Savarese, A. Claudio Bosio, and Massimo Corbo, the title is: The value of therapeutic gardening interventions for accident patients’ brain during rehabilitation Vascular: An exploratory qualitative study, available at https://tinyurl.com/3h6zazz3, and the observations are very impressive.
According to them although horticultural intervention has potential therapeutic effects on the clinical and psychological outcomes of patients, there is a lack of scientific research based on the experience of elderly post-stroke patients taking part in therapeutic horticulture in rehabilitation programs.
A qualitative phenomenological study was conducted based on semi-structured and daily interviews of 22 patients with the nervous system after stroke. Five key themes were identified from interviews and diaries:
1) Positive experiences of nature.
2) Therapeutic gardening as a protective space for self-expression.
3) Contact with nature to improve self-efficacy.
4) Plants as catalysts for doctors and patients Relationship.
5) Therapeutic gardening serves as a bridge between the hospital environment and the outside world.
Post-stroke patients engaged in therapeutic gardening see this to encourage them to play an active role in health care and enable them to take a proactive approach to disease management. Evaluation of therapeutic horticultural interventions to develop the existing evidence base is critical. As a protected self-exposure space, therapeutic gardening is a therapeutic space where patients can express their spontaneous attitudes and abilities while interacting with nature.
Generally, patients view the hospital environment as a deprived place where various life choices are not allowed. In this framework, gardening is experienced as a “break” with the environment and the daily work of the hospital, which provides a sense of autonomy and mobility for patients who have suffered a stroke in the treatment garden.
Because of its power of participation, the perspective of the post-stroke patient is considered to be a background that makes it easier to achieve health and well-being. The study found no link between self-esteem and self-esteem. Therapeutic gardening can encourage stroke patients to accept and re-treat the disease. This activity can also allow patients to take the first step to incorporate their disease status into the context of an active life project. It provides a training ground where people can express their identity in a framework that conforms to the external environment.
Research shows that by working with plants, stroke patients can take better care of themselves. Although the results are preliminary, they may be useful for the clinical practice of stroke patients and may provide useful information for implementing therapeutic gardening activities in rehabilitation programs.
Conclusion:
Gardening is not only a task that demands physical involvement but also can ease the way for community interaction. Since the task produces quantifiable and visible results, one can draw his sense of effectiveness from what a garden [produces over time. Since this is directly linked to a sense of being rewarded by nature, this facilitates the happy hormones and positive reinforcements. Be in momentary relief, like one through aromatherapy or a long-term sense of passion by producing fresh flowers and crops. Gardening is an art that has lived the test of time and it is hugely beneficial even in a modern-day context.
If you had the time and space, what kind of plants would you have liked to grow?
~ Deepansh Pratap
