It has been a long winter on the East Coast. For many gardeners, it is finally time to get back outside, sow seeds, plant flowers, and get our hands in the soil. With this time of year comes a sigh of relief as we say goodbye to frost, cool temperatures, and hard, unworkable soil. But gardening may provide much more than just a figurative “sigh of relief.” Research indicates that it can have significant mental health benefits. As more and more people search for mindful activities that promote slowing down, reducing stress, and paying attention, gardening and horticulture are at the forefront of this newfound interest in “analog activities,” which do not require technology, automation, or digitization. Gardening may be one of the original analog activities.
The research makes a strong case for gardening as a therapeutic intervention: a 2021 study concluded that benefits reaped from gardening include higher quality of life, improved sleep, increased hope and happiness, and less depression, stress, and anxiety (Ainamani and colleagues, 2021). In clinical practice, we can find everything from farm-based interventions for psychiatric patients to horticultural therapy, which integrates plants and gardening activities into the traditional psychotherapy model. Gardening not only has a place in mental health but also can serve as a buffer against serious psychological challenges. Though connection with nature has long been seen as a stress reducer, the world of psychology and clinical mental health has finally caught up with the idea. Here are just a few of the evidence-based benefits of gardening.
Stress Reduction
When compared to a control group, subjects who participated in gardening-related activities experienced significantly higher reduction in depression, anxiety, and stress severity (Powers and colleagues, 2015). Stress thrives on busyness and overwhelm, and gardening’s ability to slow us down and force us to focus on a single task has a mitigating effect on our stress levels. Mindfulness is an ancient concept, but one that is consistently threatened and made difficult by our everyday lives. The ability to be fully aware and attentive in a single moment is becoming a more foreign concept as technology marches on, and we become more distracted. But mindfulness has been proven to reduce stress, with research describing it as an effective antidote against common forms of psychological distress—rumination, anxiety, worry (Keng and colleagues, 2011). A garden provides a unique opportunity to practice mindfulness: we can pay attention without being unhealthily fixated, focus on a single thing without distraction, and be fully present and aware in the moment.
Neuroplasticity
In his book Seeds of Mindfulness, horticultural therapist Fiann O’Nuallain points out that “leisure swimmers have different muscles compared with committed cyclists, and gardening works muscles that typing won’t.” Learning a new task lends itself to neuroplasticity, or a literal changing of the brain. Gardening not only promotes new knowledge and skills, but it also helps our brains to grow and change in healthy ways. This mental flexibility can guard against psychological problems, as we become more able to adapt and pivot and less liable to think rigidly or get “stuck.” Think of it this way: It is only by being mentally flexible that we can challenge and change unhelpful or dysfunctional ways of thinking. Gardening can facilitate and strengthen our ability to access this healthy mental agility.
Social Cohesion
Mental health relies on connection rather than on isolation. Gardening can provide unique opportunities for social connection, network building, and community engagement. Studies indicate that gardening provides opportunities to interact with family and other community members, which can improve general mental well-being (Carney and colleagues, 2012). Many in the psychology field view our current time as a “loneliness epidemic,” with staggering numbers of individuals reporting having minimal social connections (one in six people worldwide report experiencing loneliness according to the World Health Organization). Anything we can do to combat this pervasive sense of isolation can improve mental health and foster needed human connection. Gardening can be a pathway into deeper connections and shared experiences, leading to better overall psychological well-being.
Purpose
Caring for something can help create a sense of purpose. When you plant a garden (or even just a few flowers), you become attached to the lives of the plants, interested in their progress, and attuned to their growth. Your garden provides a “why.” It’s why you go out early in the morning to water, why you pull weeds and trim dead growth, and why you set aside time to be attentive to your garden. Research shows that “spending significant time in green space and caring for crops offers psycho-therapeutic benefits (Hassan and colleagues, 2018).” When we feel purposeful, we tend to experience greater self-esteem and life satisfaction, and studies support this idea, with a meta-analysis of the health effects of gardening and horticulture indicating increases in life satisfaction, quality of life, and self-esteem (Soga and colleagues, 2016).
More effective stress management, greater neuroplasticity, more social connection, and a deeper sense of purpose can keep us mentally healthy, and gardening can foster all of these. It is no wonder that the current psychological research and literature heavily promote gardening and horticulture as antidotes to many of our most commonly experienced mental health challenges. Gardening is much more than a piddling activity for retirees: it can serve as a seed to cultivate and nurture our mental health.