Benefits of Home Gardening

Barbara G.

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Home gardening is a fun hobby which requires a lot of physical activity. Growing your own produce is not only cheap but also beneficial for your physical and mental health. Here are a few great reasons why you should consider starting a home garden.

· The physical activity involved in various gardening tasks is beneficial not only for older people but also for young adults. Past researches prove that gardening helps reduce level of blood pressure and cholesterol in older adults. A new South Korean study also confirms that gardening offers similar health benefits to young adults too.

· If you’re a home gardener, you are likely to eat more fruits or vegetables than your non-gardener counterparts. A US study focusing on older adults found that people involved in gardening were likely to consume more vegetables compared those who didn’t.

· Gardening does not only offer physical health benefits, it is also good for your psychological well-being. Researchers in Taiwan reported that people often engaged in gardening to enhance their mood. Gardening not only provided people an easy escape from the worries of everyday life but also gave them a relaxed and optimistic feeling.

· Home gardening is rewarding. Watching your fruits or veggies grow gives you a sense of accomplishment and makes you realize that all that hard work has paid off.

· Gardening makes you eat fresh. Once you have started your home garden, you will become habitual of eating fresh fruits and vegetables. The fresher the food, the better the flavor.
 
I agree, working in the garden outside is definitely a mood booster. Now that winter is upon us we tend to feel more depressed from not getting enough light and fresh air. I like to start getting seed catalogs in the mail and planning the next spring's garden in winter because it makes you feel better.
 
There is a book that I read recently that addressed that issue of being depressed from not getting enough light and fresh air. I will look it up and post it later.
 
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