Gardening Can Reduce Stress

 Credit to: DailyMail

Planting a beautiful garden can be a great way to relive stress! Whether you have a small patio to decorate, or a vast amount of space to tend, the act of making your particular stretch of nature into a haven can be a stress reliever in itself, and the garden that you create can bring you even more peace. Here’s why:

  

Getting In Touch With Nature: Being in touch with nature and the great outdoors can help you feel more removed from the stressors of daily life. With the amount of time we spend indoors (at work, watching t.v., etc) many people feel an urge to connect with nature that goes unfulfilled. While you may not have the time to go camping or take a nature hike each day, having your piece of nature right outside your back door can help you feel some of this connection. Gardening Without Stress and Strain

Creating Beauty: The beauty of nature is a great stress reliever in itself. (Just think of how many times relaxation has been connected with pictures of stunning landscapes or recordings of nature’s sounds.) Having your own bit of beauty available as a place for meditation, contemplation and relaxation can provide quite a bit of relief from stress. It’s all part of making your home a haven from stress.

Sunlight: Just getting out in the sunlight can actually improve your mood! (In fact, there’s a condition called Seasonal Affective Disorder that affects some people during Winter months when there is less sunlight.) Sunlight also provides an influx of vitamin D, and the fresh air that that goes with it is good for your health. Getting outdoors to work with your garden is a great excuse to get more of this good stuff.

Raises Self-Esteem

Gardening requires hard work and dedication. The reward for this effort is a great sense of accomplishment and increased self-esteem. Gardening fosters optimism from watching plants grow throughout the season and seeing the fruits of your labor develop into food. The delicious fruits and vegetables harvested give gardeners the opportunity to share them with family, friends and neighbors. A successful growing season provides a great sense of achievement. 

Physical Activities and Sensory Stimulation
Gardening provides a variety of exercise for the body. Muscles are developed through digging, lifting and raking. Walking, weeding and mowing can accomplish aerobic activity. Best of all, the focus on gardening tasks makes exercise easy. Dump Your Stress in the Compost Pile: Stress Reduction Through Gardening

Landscapes are a wonderful way to observe nature. The garden landscape helps connect you to the natural rhythms of the seasons and natural cycles. Growing colorful flowers and ornamentals allows for creative expression in decorating and art. Cooking garden produce brings creativity into the kitchen with fun and nutritious meals to share with family and friends.  Source : CDCG, About.com