Gardening for Wellbeing

HOW YOUR OUTDOOR SPACE CAN BOOST MENTAL HEALTH

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Our gardening guru Conrad McCormick explores the mental and physical health benefits that can come from spending time in the garden.

It's no secret that gardening is good for you. Even a halfhearted dabble in the borders can lift your spirits. A few hours outside, digging, planting, or just pottering, can ease a tough day and offer the kind of calm not easily found in our screen saturated world. But beyond being a pleasant pastime, there is increasing recognition that gardening has a real and lasting effect on wellbeing - both mental and physical. It's clear from personal experience, and from others, that getting your hands into soil can ground you in more ways than one. This simple act can calm the mind, steady the nerves and help reset our inner compass. Whether it is a garden, a few pots on a balcony or a jungle of houseplants indoors, gardening gives us a connection to nature, and to ourselves.

THE SCIENCE BIT (BRIEFLY)

For those who like their wellbeing backed by research, you are in luck. Numerous studies have shown that time spent in green spaces reduces stress hormones, lowers blood pressure and lifts the mood. There is even evidence that a soil based bacterium, Mycobacterium vaccae, may act as a natural antidepressant. So, a bit of dirt under the nails might be doing us more good than we realise. 'Whether you're a lifelong gardener or still unsure which end of the bulb goes down, there is space for you in the garden, not because you are good at it, but because it is good for you.'

Gardening also encourages a state of flow – that lovely mental zone where time disappears while you're fully immersed in what you are doing. Whether it is sowing seeds or rearranging pots for the fifth time, the quiet rhythm of gardening helps hush the noise of the outside of the busy and hectic world outside. It gives our overstimulated brains a break and offers a healthy distraction from day-to-day worries.