Working in and eating from a home garden can do a lot to improve your overall health. Not only can you get much needed daily exercise, you can also create healthy meals thanks to your daily labor. If you are interested in improving your health, you should focus on getting out into your garden regularly. Learning how to grow plants and doing the physical activity required to grow them can add variety and quality to your diet, as well as to your physical routine.
Method 1 Getting Exercise in the Garden
Warm up before gardening. Like you would with other types of exercise, it’s important to warm up before you start exerting yourself in the garden. Stretch your legs, arms, and hands before you start so that they will be prepared for the work ahead.
Work in the garden regularly. In order to improve your health by getting exercise in the garden, you should do it regularly. Working in your garden for several hours over the course of the week, for instance, 30 minutes daily, can give you some much needed regular exercise.
Vary your movements. As with other types of exercise, it’s a good idea to vary the types of movements you do while getting exercise in the garden. If you have a variety of tasks to do in the garden, set a specific amount of time you will do each and then rotate between them, even if you don’t complete a task in your set amount of time.
Do controlled bending and lifting. When working in the garden you need to be careful and intentional about how you lift and stretch. For example, use proper lifting technique when moving heavy bags of soil or fertilizer.
Put in some effort. In order for gardening to count as exercise, you need to raise your heart rate and put out some physical effort while doing it. This means that just standing around watering doesn’t really count as exercise.
Method 2 Enjoying Fresh Food From the Garden
Pick a variety of plants to grow. When planning out your garden, you should pick out a variety of plants that will increase your health and vary your diet. Increasing the biodiversity in your yard is also a good way to be sustainable and help the environment.
Plan for different growing seasons. In addition to growing a variety of plants, you need to plan out when certain plants should be planted and grown. There are specific times when fruits and vegetables need to be put in the ground so that they grow most effectively.
Cook home-grown food in a healthy way. Once you have grown your fruits and vegetables, it’s important to cook them in the right way. Cooking them correctly will both retain the nutrients inside of them and will help you avoid adding unhealthy ingredients into the meal.
Method 3 Focusing on Your Mental Health
Increase happiness and contentment. Not only does gardening help your physical health, it can help your mental health as well. Working in the garden can be a deeply satisfying project that gives you a sense of accomplishment and satisfaction
Relieve stress. Spending time working in the garden allows you to clear your mind and let go of stress. It can be especially helpful for those that need time to recover from mental fatigue and those that find satisfaction from the nurturing and care that gardening requires.
Help your long-term brain health. Not only does gardening help your mental health right when you are doing it, it can help your brain health in the long run. For example, gardening has been shown to prevent dementia in seniors, as it exercises the parts of the brain that are connected to learning and creativity.
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