Gardening Your Way to a Healthy Body

A Healthy Mind, Body, and Spirit

In my last post, we discussed how gardening contributes to a healthy mind. Of how gardening repositions my thought process. Focusing on my difficulties has moved from the “forefront” (conscious) to the “back” (subconscious) of my mind. My conscious mind is now requiring less energy by focusing on mundane things like weeding, pruning, or just digging in the dirt.

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A Healthy Body

Gardening is good exercise! Doctors advise their patients to engage in various exercise regimens to improve their health. At the mall or walking tracks, you see recovering heart patients walking to help regain their health. Sometimes it is preventive measures to promote a healthy body.

Maybe I have a strange way of looking at things, but I view walking around in circles a waste of time. Why not get your exercise and be productive at the same time? Wouldn’t it be more rewarding to promote a healthy body and have something else to show for it? In other words, two benefits for the one effort.

My gardening efforts give me the exercise I need and produces a beautiful flower bed (or landscape, vegie garden, etc.) to enjoy. Rather than “walking in circles” I now have something to show for it in addition to the exercise.

Can gardening give you adequate exercise in all the areas you need may be your question. You can design just about any kind of exercise regimen you can think of around gardening. Of course it is highly advisable to consult with your healthcare professional before engaging in any kind of exercise program.

Here are just a few examples of beneficial exercises that can be gained from gardening:

Flexibility. Gaining flexibility helps to relieve muscle tension, improve posture and balance, increase range of motion and elongate and relax muscles. Think of all the contortions you place your body in by just weeding your garden or landscape. Bending over, sitting down, getting up, or reaching to name a few. Overall, you or using muscles that just walking doesn’t do.
Aerobic Exercise. Also known as “cardio”, aerobics increases your heart rate and helps burn calories rapidly in addition to reducing symptoms of depression, prevent many forms of heart disease and improves insulin resistance to diabetes. The best tool to give aerobic exercise is the old fashioned shovel! Just digging in the dirt can increase the heart rate faster than anything else I know of. And you can work at a pace that is suitable for you.
Strength. Strength exercises improve strength, tones muscles and burn fat. Additionally, benefits of improving bone strength, fighting osteoporosis, decreases blood pressure, preventing lower back pain, increasing your resting metabolic rate, promoting psychological well-being, aiding in insulin sensitivity and glucose metabolism. WOW! Picking up sacks of fertilizer, pulling, prying, digging, etc. are just a few strength exercises that go along with gardening.

I’m sure you can think of many other ways of perfecting your exercise regimen while gardening. Please, DON’T OVER DO IT ON YOUR FIRST DAY OUT THIS SPRING! Being over zealous and suffering the consequences can be very discouraging.