THE
RESEARCH
After experiencing meaningful shifts in my own health from gardening and nature-based activities, the writer and researcher in me needed to know more. So I turned to schooling and research - and discovered how horticulture has impacted people in ways I could never have imagined.
I’ve included some of my favorite learnings, with sources. So you can explore more for yourself.
“Nature experiences had a deep impact on finding or re-finding one’s values and meaning in life.”
Eva Sahlin, Josefa Vega Matuszczyk, Gunnar Ahlborg, Jr., and Patrik Grahn. “How Do Participants in Nature-Based Therapy Experience and Evaluate Their Rehabilitation?” Journal of Therapeutic Horticulture,Volume XXII, Issue 1 (2012): 8-23.
“The positive association with gardening was observed for a wide range of health outcomes, such as reductions in depression and anxiety symptoms, stress, mood disturbance, as well as increases in quality of life, sense of community, physical activity levels, and cognitive function.”
Soga Masashi, Kevin J. Gaston, and Yuichi Yamaura. “Gardening Is Beneficial for Health: A Meta-Analysis. ”Preventive Medicine Reports 5 (March 1, 2017): 92–99.
Exposure to views of nature lead to “feelings of neighborhood safety and even lead to decreases in aggression and crime rates.”
Groenewegen, Peter P., Agnes E. van den Berg, Sjerp de Vries, and Robert A. Verheij. “Vitamin G: Effects of Green Space on Health, Well-Being, and Social Safety.” BMC Public Health 6, no. 1 (June 7, 2006): 149.
Gardening can be used as a mental health intervention
for “reduced symptoms of depression and anxiety.
Participants described a range of benefits across
emotional, social, vocational, physical, and spiritual domains.”
Clatworthy, J., Hinds, J., and Camic, P.M. “Gardening as a Mental Health Intervention:A Review.” Mental Health Review Journal 18, no. 4 (January 1, 2013): 214–25.
Community gardens contributed to improved nutrition, “opportunity for physical activity, and for many, being part of a community garden was stress-relieving, and was thought to contribute to improved mental health.”
Sarah Wakefield, Fiona Yeudall, Carolin Taron, Jennifer Reynolds, and Ana Skinner, “Growing urban health: Community gardening in South-East Toronto” Health Promotion International, Volume 22, Issue 2, (June 2007): 92–101
“Nature allows us to restore cognitively from attention fatigue.”