Fun in the sun while exercising your green thumb has many benefits anyone can enjoy, especially seniors. From increasing the amount of physical exercise to creating a healthier diet, gardening has many positive aspects for one to appreciate. Below are 7 benefits for seniors that like to garden.
Reduce Stress
Reducing stress can be beneficial in anyone’s life and gardening is a great way to get our minds off of any nagging thoughts by focusing on the task at hand. While we are enjoying the fun of gardening our senses are taken in a different direction. Whether it is the beautiful sight of greenery, smell of the great outdoors, feeling the dirt between our fingers, or hearing the birds sing, it all works to help distract us from our day to day and have us appreciating the moment at hand.
Eating Healthier
As we all know by now, processed foods aren’t great for us. Finding healthy foods around the store can be a challenge, researching where your fruits and vegetables have come from can be daunting, whether or not the farmer has used pesticides and or if they are truly organic. When you grow your own food, you know exactly where they have come from. You put the seed in the ground and nurture it into the delicious treat that it is. Not only will it be healthier, but the sense of satisfaction of growing your own food always makes it taste better, right?
Gentle Exercise
The best kind of exercise is when you don’t even realize you’re doing it. Gardening offers gentle exercise and a reason to get. As we age, making sure we stay active is important, and integrating it into our day-to-day lives with hobbies like gardening is a great way to stay active while having fun.
Vitamin D
One of the best ways to get your Vitamin D is the old fashion way, sunshine. Gardening takes us out of the shade and into enjoying a beautiful sunny day where we can absorb lots of Vitamin D through those warm rays.
Saving Money
As mentioned earlier, growing your own food can be a healthy way to fill your plate. But, it can also be a great way to save money on groceries.
A Sense of Purpose
We all have reasons to get up in the morning, but it never hurts to have one more. Gardening is a fun hobby with lots of positive benefits as we have already learned. But, it also comes with the responsibility of nurturing life in our gardens. Having that life need us for its survival gives us a sense of purpose and reason to continue with this life creating activity.
Improving Social Life
Gardening can be done at home alone, with friends, and even on more competitive levels by showcasing your best plants in competitions. We all have our own level of comfort when it comes to our social lives, gardening can help fit us into groups of like-minded peers that enjoy the same activities as we do. Origin Active Lifestyles supports gardening at its communities through Origin’s Living Green program. And whether our community members like growing plants in their rooms or on their balconies, in our greenhouses, or in the community gardens, we like to support them in their endeavors. We have gardening programs involved through Origin’s Living Green, and we even have our Origin Way Wellness Companions ready to help if it's welcomed. Learn more about our communities here: originway.ca/communities
Gardening has many benefits. It can help reduce stress, improve your diet, save you money, expand your social life, and so much more. Here at Origin, it is one of our favorite activities and we hope this article has helped inspire some more green thumbs. Watch a gardening video from Origin at Longwood here.