With spring comes the desire to return to your garden, to plant, turn over the earth, maintain your vegetable garden… And so much the better! According to several scientific studies, gardening helps you take care of your health. Explanations.
Gardening as a means of preventing certain diseases
In addition to being a productive activity, gardening would have a positive impact on our health. In fact, it would allowimprove our diet, increase physical activity and reduce stress and anxiety. At least these are the results of an American scientific study, published in The Lancet Planetary Health.
To conduct this study, scientists recruited participants from the waiting list for community gardens in the city of Denver, Colorado. Some got a plot, others remained on the waiting list. All of them had not gardened for two years.
Result, after two yearsgardening had made it possible to increase the physical activity of the participants, but also to improve their diet by integrating a greater proportion of fiber..
Gold, “Dietary fiber and whole plant-based diets are increasingly recognized as reliable indicators of health: they are linked to improved metabolism, a healthy gut microbiota and reduced inflammation” indicate the researchers of this study.
These results seem to indicate that gardening could play an important role in the prevention of certain chronic diseases and the prevention of cancer.
An impact on mental health
If you don’t have a garden, don’t panic! Green spaces in the city have a beneficial impact on mental health. Indeed, according to several studies, these spaces would help reduce stress and anxiety disorders.
According to a study carried out at the Barcelona Institute for Global Health (ISGlobal), the establishment of green corridors in cities would reduce annual antidepressant use and mental health visits by 13%.
“Scientific evidence shows that green spaces benefit overall health – and mental health in particular – through various mechanisms, for example by decreasing exposure to air pollution, noise and heat; reducing stress and facilitating restorative processes in the body; and encouraging physical activity and social interaction” indicate the researchers.
Moreover, the World Health Organization recommends providing at least one green space of 500 m2 less than 300 m from each house. Today in Europeonly 40% of city dwellers benefit from these recommended accesses.
