What are the health benefits of gardening for people struggling with their mental health? Wellbeing experts explain

Wellbeing gardening experts discuss the key health benefits of growing flowers and plants.

According to Mind, working in green spaces or focussing on nature can not only benefit your mental health but also your physical health too.

Incorporating gardening into your daily routine is a great way to exercise and keep fit and these wellbeing gardening experts agree.

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Isabel Swift is the director, designer and therapeutic horticulturist at a business called Lemon Balm, based in Leeds, where they run gardening for wellbeing groups to support people who have different health and wellbeing needs, including depression and anxiety.

Lemon Balm garden harvest. (Pic credit: Isabel Swift)Lemon Balm garden harvest. (Pic credit: Isabel Swift)
Lemon Balm garden harvest. (Pic credit: Isabel Swift)

How does gardening help people struggling with their mental health?

Through Ms Swift’s work she has seen first-hand how gardening and horticulture has been beneficial for your mental health.

Gardens and nature help us with this by providing us with reasons to be active and to see things we’ve cared for grow,” she said.

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“They also provide us with quiet time in a calming place which reduces stress hormones that build up in our systems when we’re anxious. Being together as part of a group allows us to feel connected with others in a safe space which further builds our positive emotions.

“Through our activities, we learn new things and gain skills we can take home to our own gardens or our own nature walks.”

What are the therapeutic benefits of gardening?

According to Ms Swift, there are multiple therapeutic benefits to gardening.

- Being close to nature helps us to understand that we are part of something bigger than ourselves.

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- Gardens offer “incredible opportunities to notice amazing things, which absorb all of our attention for a few seconds”, leaving us “completely in the moment and free from worry”.

- Planting a seed gives us “hope for the future”.

- Gardening can provide gentle or strenuous exercise, which releases endorphins, which lift your mood and aid sleep.

- “Plants and wildlife are fascinating things. There is always something more to stimulate our curiosity.”

- “Giving is good for us; grow slightly more than you need and share with your neighbours.”

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Assistant garden manager and marketing and communications manager at Helmsley Walled Garden, Tricia Harris, agrees that gardening has many therapeutic benefits.

According to Ms Harris, these key elements of gardening make the green-fingered hobby vital for lifting your mood.

- Being outdoors

- Being with other people

- Physical exercise

- Working alongside the seasons

- Slowing down to the rhythm of the soil and the growing season

- Seed sowing - the joy of watching something you have sown grow into a beautiful flower or something to eat is a great way to help lift your spirits.

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