Just 30 Minutes a Day Once a Week of Gardening Reduces Stress Levels

Recent studies indicate that gardening for only 30 minutes a day, once per week, can reduce stress levels – and fatigue. The immediate and lasting health benefits of this finding substantiates that gardening is an activity we all should consider for our health and mental well-being.

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If you’ve ever taken an impromptu walk in the park or down a tree-lined lane, you know how you felt afterward. Likely, you were invigorated and thinking good thoughts rather than focusing on stressful subjects.

A garden can provide that mental well-being and possibly add years to your life. Studies have proven the fact that gardening is good for the body and the soul and cities are incorporating community gardens in their design plan to keep the population healthy and provide an outlet for stress and mental fatigue.

If you’re not an avid outdoor enthusiast, you’ll be happy to know that you don’t have to spend large chunks of time tending to a garden. Choose a gardening method, such as containers, that will keep you reaping the benefits gardening has to offer, but that you devote less time to.

You may live a life that makes it difficult to garden because of the time it takes, but there are methods where you can get the same benefits as avid gardeners who spend hours per week in their garden settings.

One method of gardening that lets you devote as much or little time as you like is planting in containers. You can make it even easier by setting up watering systems such as the drip method.

If you’re a beginner gardener, you’ll want to begin with easy-to-grow plants. Choose from a wide array of flowers to add beauty to your outdoor and indoor spaces or reap the health benefits from a vegetable garden.

Any gardening store can help you with the basics. Don’t invest in a lot of equipment and exotic plants until you find out if gardening is something you enjoy. Most of the basic gardening tools are inexpensive and will last a long time if cared for.

There are so many aspects of gardening to enjoy and that will provide stress-reduction and boost your health. Simply being outside in the fresh air and sunshine can help lift your mood, fill your lungs and flex your muscles.

Another healthy aspect of gardening is the beauty and peace it provides. If you have the space, carve out an area for a chair and perhaps a water feature that offers peaceful sounds.

After your gardening chores are done, take some time to relax and enjoy the sounds, sights, smells and touch that your efforts have provided. It’s amazing that only 30 minutes of gardening, one day per week can provide that much pleasure to your life.

Vegetable gardening goes beyond helping you feel less stress and can help you eat a healthy diet by providing you with fresh, chemical-free food that you can enjoy right out of your garden.

If you want to try your hand at gardening, but don’t know where to start, begin online with some tips and ideas about how to cultivate a garden where you can devote little time, but reap all of the benefits that gardening has to offer.