{"id":892,"date":"2016-04-27T11:59:08","date_gmt":"2016-04-27T15:59:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.freedomshowers.com\/?p=892"},"modified":"2023-05-18T16:09:43","modified_gmt":"2023-05-18T20:09:43","slug":"gardening-benefits-safety-tips","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.freedomshowers.com\/blog\/gardening-benefits-safety-tips\/","title":{"rendered":"Gardening: 12 Benefits & Safety Tips"},"content":{"rendered":"
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‘Plant smiles<\/span>, grow laughter<\/span>, and harvest love<\/span>.’ If, like us, you’re from the Great White North (Canada), or call a\u00a0Northern State home, rejoice<\/span>! Spring is here! If your winter was more sun & sand, than ice &\u00a0snow, rejoice<\/span>!\u00a0You can also enjoy this article with your perpetual\u00a0suntan (we’re jealous).<\/strong><\/h4>\n

It’s time to lose your winter mitts for your gardening gloves. Planting\u00a0season has finally arrived. Gardening is an incredible activity for your mind, body, and home-made salads.
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Benefits of Gardening for Older Adults:<\/strong><\/h3>\n
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  1. Gardening can help reduce stress<\/span> and improve mood<\/span>. \u00a0Researchers\u00a0Agnes E. Va Den Berg and Mari\u00ebtte H.G. Custers<\/a><\/span>, from the Netherlands, exposed two groups to a stressful activity. One group then\u00a0gardened for 30 minutes<\/span>, while the other group read. The gardening group showed significantly lower cortisol levels (stress hormone) and a restored positive mood compared to the reading group.<\/li>\n
  2. Gardening is an\u00a0excellent\u00a0form of physical activity, improving strength<\/span>\u201a flexibility<\/span>\u201a endurance<\/span> and motor skills<\/span>.<\/li>\n
  3. In case you didn’t already know, a lot of people love gardening<\/span>! Gardening can be\u00a0fun social activity\u201a and a way to connect with neighbours. Many communities have garden tours where you can meet local garden enthusiasts.<\/li>\n
  4. Having something to take care of gives us\u00a0a sense of choice and responsibility. A classic study<\/a><\/span> by Langer and Rodin gave a group of nursing home participants a plant to take care. Over the course of 18 months, the study found that residents who had been given plants to take care of experienced\u00a0improved health<\/span> compared to other residents.<\/li>\n
  5. If you’re growing your own vegetables<\/span>, fruits<\/span>, and\/or herbs<\/span>, not only are you saving money on grocery bills, your homegrown ingredients are fresher, taste better, and often contain less pesticides than store bought.<\/li>\n
  6. According to WebMD<\/a><\/span> 40-75% of us are Vitamin D deficient<\/span>. Vitamin D is important for strong bones, but sometimes it’s hard to get enough sun (we’re from Canada, so we understand), and vitamin D levels in food are often too low. And so we have another benefit of gardening! The most natural\u00a0way to produce vitamin D is by exposing your skin to the sun. Be careful not to burn or become dehydrated<\/span>. It doesn’t take a lot of sun for the body to start making vitamin D, and gardening can be a great\u00a0excuse (not that you need one) to get some rays.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    Safety tips for Gardening:<\/strong><\/h3>\n

    Gardening is a\u00a0fun and fulfilling activity\u201a but not if you get hurt. Don’t spend the next day in your bed from over-exerting yourself. Those tomatoes and daffodils won’t water themselves! Follow these tips to stay safe in the garden:<\/p>\n

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    1. Keep your garden to a manageable size<\/span>. Gardening should be a fun hobby\u201a not an exhausting chore. Create narrow beds so you don\u2019t have to over reach. Raised garden beds<\/span> are a great option if bending over too much is hard on your back. There are a wide range of raised bed kits available at stores\u00a0like your local hardware & gardening centre.<\/li>\n
    2. Container gardening<\/span> is also a great option, especially if you have limited space. Buy light weight containers with grab handles so that they are easy to move around. Remember: you will need to water your plants more often if you are using containers!<\/li>\n
    3. Vine plants<\/span> and vegetables\u00a0on a trellis<\/span> (mmm… tomatoes) can make gardening much easier\u201a as there is less bending for pruning and harvesting.<\/li>\n
    4. Find tools that make gardening easier. Ergonomic\u00a0garden tools<\/span> keep your wrist in a neutral position while you work\u201a causing less stress on the wrists and hands than regular tools. You might also benefit from garden kneelers<\/span>\u201a and rolling garden seats<\/span>.<\/li>\n
    5. Know your limits and if you are experiencing mobility issues or don\u2019t have space for your own garden\u201a don’t fret! You\u00a0could get\u00a0involved with a community garden to stay active and social.<\/li>\n
    6. Sunscreen<\/span>! Stay hydrated<\/span>! Wear a hat<\/span>! I know we said sun exposure can\u00a0give you some much needed Vitamin D, but remember you can also get too much sun.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

      There you have it! The\u00a0benefits of\u00a0gardening and some added safety tips.\u00a0If you love your garden, and\/or have some gardening tips, please share! If you have pictures, even better! Show off you gardening knowhow and your perfectly pruned plants.<\/p>\n

      If you enjoyed this post, please consider sharing it on Facebook or Twitter below<\/em>.<\/p>\n

      P.S.<\/strong> We\u2019d love to meet you on Twitter here<\/a><\/u>\u00a0<\/strong>or on\u00a0Facebook here<\/a><\/span><\/strong><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

      <\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

      ‘Plant smiles, grow laughter, and harvest love.’ If, like us, you’re from the Great White North (Canada), or call a\u00a0Northern State home, rejoice! Spring is here! If your winter was more sun & sand, than ice &\u00a0snow, rejoice!\u00a0You can also enjoy this article with your perpetual\u00a0suntan (we’re jealous). It’s time to lose your winter mitts […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":598,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[142,98],"tags":[83,84,76,81,79,77,80,82,62,78,85,54],"class_list":["post-892","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-health-and-well-being-for-aging-americans","category-lifestyle-for-aging-in-place","tag-accessible-gardening","tag-disability-gardening","tag-gardening","tag-gardening-benefits","tag-gardening-health","tag-gardening-safety","tag-gardening-tips","tag-gardening-tools","tag-senior","tag-senior-gardening","tag-senior-lifestyle","tag-seniors"],"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.freedomshowers.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/892","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.freedomshowers.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.freedomshowers.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.freedomshowers.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.freedomshowers.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=892"}],"version-history":[{"count":19,"href":"https:\/\/www.freedomshowers.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/892\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7250,"href":"https:\/\/www.freedomshowers.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/892\/revisions\/7250"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.freedomshowers.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/598"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.freedomshowers.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=892"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.freedomshowers.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=892"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.freedomshowers.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=892"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}