Garden Essay: The Benefits Of Gardening

There are several types of hobbies; some for those who enjoy being indoors and some for those who love to be outside. Maybe you thrive on competition or enjoy the comfort of observing, regardless of how a person likes to spend their free time - no doubt there is something for everyone. However, gardening offers the most rewards and benefits to yourself as well as others. Regardless of age, gardening is an excellent way to reduce stress, boost your mood, increase exercise and improve the environment.

The garden should be a place where we can slow down, breathe deeply, feel the sun on our skin and reconnect with the earth. One form of stress is attention fatigue which can be caused by constantly directing our attention to cell phones, emails, and other electronic gadgets. Some experts have argued that

Gardening is also being linked to a more positive outlook which is perhaps a combination of connection to the earth and a since of pride form something you’ve created. According to cnn.com, a recent study in the Netherlands, suggests gardening may be at the top of the list when it comes to leisure activity as people who gardened reported being in a better mood and had lower levels of cortisol than people who read. The trick is gardening engages you in involuntary attention which is more effortless. "We live in a society where we're just maxing ourselves out all the time in terms of paying attention," says Andrea Faber Taylor, Ph.D., a horticulture instructor and researcher in the Landscape and Human Health Laboratory at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. You can also ward off the blues by planting a “mood garden” in your backyard filled with stress-relieving or energizing plants for eating and aromatherapy. For example; Swiss chard, blue potato, cherry tomatoes, black-eyed peas, oregano, and chamomile, sunflowers, evening primrose, lavender, and St. Johns