Gardening: therapy against stress

Who would have thought that taking care of your vegetable garden and its plants was also taking care of yourself?

Indeed, the benefits of gardening are numerous, but more and more studies agree that gardening is now a practice that would make it possible to reach a state of ultimate well-being, in the same way as yoga or meditation. So, rather than bringing your yoga mat and opening your chakras, when the good weather returns, remember to put on your gloves and go outside.

Watering the plants, weeding, repotting your plants, sowing, digging, etc: each gesture related to gardening will allow you to relax and act as a real breath of fresh air. It is not for nothing if you still feel invigorated and in Olympic form after several days spent in the garden: going green helps to stimulate the physical and the mental and the fact of reconnecting with nature is a true panacea for the health of body and mind.

horticultural therapy

Since 2009, the lack of nature syndrome has also been recognized by the medical authorities: in our increasingly sedentary lifestyles and faced with the omnipresence of screens, it is clear that we are fewer and fewer to spend time outdoors.

Research has shown that in children, this lack of nature can have serious consequences in their development and the risk is to see more and more childhood obesity developing. Among adults and vulnerable people, gardening can be seen as a real anti-stress ally. Moreover, faced with the powers of nature, horticultural therapy was born. This is generally practiced by patients with Alzheimer’s disease, autism, hyperactivity in children or even anxiety. During the second half of the 19th century, some American hospitals also set up greenhouses for therapeutic purposes and then in 1973 the first horticultural association was born. Since then, therapeutic gardens have gradually been established all over the world.

An anti-stress method

If everyone obviously does not need to do horticultural therapy as such since it is a real therapy, indulging in gardening would reduce stress and put us in a good mood. You don’t have a garden at home? You can simply grow a few aromatic herbs on your window sill or on your balcony. Burying an avocado pit in a pot of soil is already a source of well-being. And if you really want to turn the earth, uproot and truly live in communion with Mother Nature, then think about shared gardens: there are some in all major cities, usually on suspended roofs or in condominiums.