15 Surprising Benefits of Gardening

The best benefit of gardening is the power it has to improve our lives.

While you may garden for fun, you are also inadvertently improving and protecting your mental and physical health.

Gardening has been known to prevent everything from coronary disease to colon cancer.

Stress Reducer

In recent years, gardening has been proven to reduce stress.

Stress causes irritability, headaches, stomach aches, heart attacks and worsens pre-existing conditions.

The Journal of Health Psychology published an experiment which compared stress relievers.

In this case, the comparison was made between reading and gardening. The test showed that who gardened had a marked reduction in stress levels as opposed to those who read.

Gardening also provides more self-serving benefits as well such as:

Reducing the risk of anything from coronary disease to colon cancer.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), gardening is a moderate-intensity level activity, and if you engage in gardening for at least 2 and a half hours per week you can:

• reduce your risk for type 2 diabetes
• heart disease
• osteoporosis
• obesity
• high blood pressure
• stroke
• depression
• premature death
• colon cancer.

Therefore, those who choose to garden as their moderate-intensity exercise are more likely to exercise 40 – 50 minutes longer.

As a result, you are more likely to exercise more than if you were walking or biking.

Preserving the Environment

Also, when you garden you are helping to preserve the environment and reduce the effects of global warming.

Beautify your Home and Increase Property Value

Gardens are not only for aesthetics and adding curb appeal:

But are also known to increase your property value.

Think of it as an investment in your future.

A tastefully designed yard will fetch a better price and will also sell quicker than an average home.

Save Money

Gardening also helps you to save money at the grocery and Farmers Market.

Planting your own food is not only about going green and knowing what pesticides and fertilizers have touched your food.

The fact is, organic food is expensive.

Having your own vegetable garden provides you with the freshest quality produce as well as saving you a trip to the store.

You can save a lot if you plant:

• onions
• garlic
• peppers
• tomatoes
• carrots
• cabbage
• lettuce
• cucumbers
• potatoes and
• berries.

A Lucrative Business

As a gardening consultant, you can share your hard-earned valuable  gardening knowledge for hard cash.

Combine your other talents such as photography, floral arrangement, drawing and crafting to increase your earning power.

You can also cultivate and sell exotic plants.

Improve your Sex Life

Rope your spouse into gardening because:

As little as 30 minutes of gardening can dramatically improve a man’s sex life. Weeding, digging, or mowing the lawn for 30 minutes almost halved a man’s risk of impotence.

Repels Mosquitoes, Flies and Purify the Air

There are more than 30 plants that will help you keep mosquitoes and flies at bay while there are several more that purifies the air in your home.

Hand Health and Dexterity

As we age, we loose dexterity and strength in our hands which gradually narrows the activities that are possible or pleasurable.

Gardening helps to counter these effects and research has shown that gardening is a satisfying and productive way to rebuild strength and ability.

Satisfaction and Better Sleep

Gardening has also be proven to help you sleep better because you are more satisfied with your life.

Conclusion

Gardening is an art form as well as a science.

Planning, planting and watching your own garden grow fills you with satisfaction and pride.

Gardening is a hobby for a lifetime.

The more you garden, the more you learn, and the more proficient you become.

And then the possibilities become truly endless.

If you have community gardens in your area:

• venture out;
• exercise your green thumb;
• share your expertise;
• enjoy the scenery;
• beautify and improve your community; and
• get your exercise in, all at the same time.

Now it’s your turn…

What’s stopping you from starting your garden?