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| It`s official -
gardening is good for your mind, body and spirit
 Mention the word “fitness” to most people and they
immediately think of the gym. But spending hours pumping iron may not appeal to everyone.
So the good news is that the gym may be much closer to home than you think – in your
very own garden in fact.
“You can
reap almost the same health benefits from gardening as you would from a workout in the
gym, and it isn’t just your body that gets healthier after gardening. Your mind and
emotions can also improve,” says BUPA’s Dr Sally Cubbin. A survey carried out by
MIND found 50 % of people believed that physical exercise, including gardening, was one of
the best activities to boost their mental health.
Gardening, like
other forms of moderate exercise, will help to lower blood pressure and cholesterol levels
if you do it for around 30 minutes per day. Exercise such as gardening has even been found
to help prevent type II diabetes, heart disease and strokes.
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| The benefits of gardening
Power
of sunlight
Physical
fitness
 To reap the benefits of gardening, you have to do more than
just potter about. The most energetic activities in terms of calories used are digging and
shovelling. If you spend 30 minutes on either of these activities, you could burn up
between 200 and 360 calories. Mowing the lawn is also a high-calorie burner.
Staying
mentally alert
“Gardening takes you on a unique journey of discovery. It gives you an opportunity to
exercise your mind and your hands, and there’s always something new to learn from
your garden. Learning new skills is a sure-fire way to keep the brain alert,” says
BUPA’s Dr Sally Cubbin.
Reducing
stress levels
Researchers
at the University of Florida have found that just walking through a beautiful sensory
garden, lowers stress levels. “The
sensory garden is thought to have the same effects on the mind as art therapy. But it
isn’t just doing some gardening that reduces the stress. Soaking up the colours,
sounds and smells of your garden and taking time to appreciate the peace and tranquillity
also help to remove tension,” says Dr Cubbin.
BUPA’s top tips for gardening safely
Break your
gardening session into small chunks of time, ie 10 minutes pruning, then 10-15 minutes
weeding, then 10-15 minutes digging, before going back to pruning. This will allow
different parts of your body to work and then rest.
For further
information about the health benefits of gardening, advice on getting fit for gardening,
and further tips on gardening safely, log on to BUPA’s website www.bupa.co.uk/
BUPA is creating 60 sensory gardens across the UK for
residents, relatives and the local community to enjoy.
For more information on how to get involved log on to BUPA’s
sensory gardens information.
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| laterlife interest
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