How Gardening Helps Boost Health in Women
Grab your gardening gloves!
Gardening, whether fruits, vegetables, or flowers, is good for you. When you grow your own food, you’re eating clean, and when you dig in the dirt, you’re getting physical activity. Just being out in the sun has been proven to be a natural mood booster.
Below you’ll discover how gardening is great for women’s health.
Eat the Rainbow
Growing your own vegetables means you have access to fresh, organic, pesticide-free foods. Not only is growing your own great for the environment, but it also saves you money.
Organic vegetables at the grocery store are usually about 50% more expensive than their non-organic counterparts. Putting in the extra effort in your garden means you can have a little extra cash to buy that new pair of shoes you’ve been eyeing.
Growing your own also means you can have a lot more variety and color in your diet, which offers countless health benefits. Wondering what some colorful foods you can plant are? Check out this guide to eating the rainbow.
Stay Grounded
When you’re feeling high-strung, worried, or uneasy, head out to your garden for some reprieve. Gardening has been shown to reduce stress, anxiety, and depression. It also boosts psychological well-being and cognitive function.
Whether you need to get out some aggression by digging holes to plant in or you want to gain a sense of calm, your garden offers everything you need to get grounded.
Can You Dig It?
Digging in the ground is a workout, which means gardening is also good for your physical health. Exercise doesn’t have to mean you’re stuck inside a gym on the treadmill. Pick up a shovel and get planting.
The CDC says people need about 30 minutes of exercise per day, so however you get it – taking a walk in your neighborhood, attending a cycling class at the gym, or digging in your garden, pulling weeds, and raking – doesn’t matter. Just don’t forget to hydrate!
Just Breathe
When people with high-stress jobs, for example, nurses – of which nearly 90% are women – decompress by gardening, they’re not only partaking in a hobby they enjoy but also inhaling a natural mood booster.
Mycobacterium vaccae is a bacteria found in the dirt that, when inhaled, can lessen the effects of PTSD, stress, and anxiety.
Catch Some Rays
We all know too much sun exposure isn’t good for our skin, but a little bit is essential to our health. Most women need about 600 IU per day, and being in the sun for just 30 minutes helps your body produce up to 50,000 IU!
So, you can still wear your SPF, oversized sunglasses, and a wide-brimmed hat and get all the healthy benefits of the sun you need.
Vitamin D has been shown to reduce your health risk of developing some cancers, type 2 diabetes, heart disease, and multiple sclerosis. While you can take supplements or get it from certain foods, soaking up some sun is the best way for your body to experience the benefits.
We Want to Hear From You
What do you love about gardening?
Message us on Instagram @womendotcom or Facebook to tell us!