SPRING - TIME TO GET GARDENING
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According to research by Bord Bia, Ireland’s next generation gardeners will be younger, more eco-aware, GYO (grow your own) advocates, with a desire for easily maintained, compact gardens.
With 63% of the Irish population living in urban areas, and a growing number with ‘ limited or no’ space to grow, gardening within a limited space will become ever-more important.
The Bord Bia ‘Gardening in Ireland’ study, carried out by Red C, also revealed that over 1.3 million Irish people, from almost 1 million households, now garden on a regular basis. Ireland’s gardening enthusiasts, those who love to garden on a regular basis, are mainly female (69%), and 4 in 10 are over the age of 55.
Some 75% of all adults surveyed believe that gardening is good for your mental health, while almost all (98%) adults who garden on a regular basis know that it is!
Meanwhile. three in four regular gardeners consider digging to be a ‘pain’; nonetheless 95% believe it keeps them fit and active.
And, it seems, there are a great many benefits from gardening, according to Bord Bia.
The human eye can perceive more shades of green than of any other colour. Green triggers a response in the sympathetic nervous system to relieve tension in the blood vessels and lowers the blood pressure. Holistically it is ‘ the healing colour’ and the colour of the heart chakra.
As an activity gardening is a means of aerobic, isometric and isotonic exercise, the combination of which benefits general health but specifically enhances strength, endurance and flexibility; thus increasing fitness levels as well as boosting the immune, respiratory and cardiovascular systems.
The garden is also a ‘green gym’. Mowing a lawn with a push mower for half an hour burns approximately 243 calories in exertion – that is the equivalent to the strenuous activity of chopping wood for half an hour. Turning a compost pile for approximately 15 mins exertion can burn in excess of 100 calories. Lifting a gallon watering can, full of water in each hand is equivalent to eight pound dumbbells.
The physicality of gardening not only benefits muscles, bones and organs but actually releases endorphins which help to alleviate stress and its side effects. A healthy portion of gardening will stimulate appetite and foster a good night’s sleep. It is a positive and healthy activity for all age groups from children to senior citizens.
Gardening is also a great provider of fresh air, which revitalizes body and mind. Invigorating activity allows the lungs to fully avail of the better air quality of a garden.
Remember that the garden is an oxygen-making machine. Photosynthesis is the process by which a plant makes food, part of the process entails plants removing co2 and other environmental gasses and pollutants from the air and releasing oxygen back into the atmosphere.
The garden can also provide the healthy benefits of SENSIBLE sun exposure: vitamin D ‘ the sunshine vitamin’ is a hormone made by skin exposed to sunlight, which has been shown to act as a powerful inhibitor of abnormal cell growth. Cells in the colon, prostate and breast have similar mechanisms for the D hormone. Sunshine is also a mood booster.
Remember, not to overexpose your skin to sun.
Gardeners are also more likely to eat a wider range of fruit, vegetables, salads and herbs than non-gardeners with resulting health benefits. Even if the gardener is not engaged in growing edible crops an inherent ‘gardener’s awareness’ of health and green issues develops.
Gardening also enables a sense of accomplishment. It involves all the senses and engages the intellect and the physical body. It provides a pleasant pastime filled with opportunities for reward where reaping what you sow is an immense positive.
Meanwhile, gardening offers a relationship with nature which provides a sense of psychological wellbeing. It can engender a spiritual and metaphysical connection that offers solace or serenity; further boosting both physiological and physical health.
Now that spring has finally arrived, get out there.