Gardening counts as a moderate physical activity, meaning it has the benefits of moderate exercise, including helping you maintain a moderate weight and improve mental well-being. Yet there’s more to this green activity.
Gardening is one of the healthiest hobbies you can develop. It helps support your mental health and physical health!
But there’s more to gardening than just that. Keep reading to learn about the many benefits for you and your community.
Your skin uses sunlight to make one of your body’s essential nutrients, vitamin D, much like a plant uses sunlight to make its food.
Vitamin D is essential for multiple body functions — strengthening your bones, boosting your immune system, and absorbing calcium are just a few.
A 2024 research review suggests that sunlight may also help lower your risk of:
However, the study authors note that there’s only a correlation between sun exposure and these conditions. It cannot be said that sunlight will prevent them from occurring.
All of these factors must also be balanced against the risk of skin cancer from overexposure to the sun. But the science is clear: A little sunshine can go a very long way in your body.
The
Working in a garden uses nearly every major muscle group in your body — and it strengthens what you have. This won’t surprise anyone who has woken up sore after a day of yardwork or pulling weeds.
A small 2018 study of 30 people with obesity who participated in 12 weeks of community vegetable gardening found that it additionally helped with weight loss and improved vegetable intake.
Compared to other types of physical activity, gardening also has less of a fall and injury risk for older adults.
There’s some debate about whether gardening on its own is enough to affect memory. But evidence shows that it may spur growth in your brain’s memory-related nerves.
Researchers in Korea gave 20-minute gardening activities to people being treated for dementia in an inpatient facility.
After the residents had raked and planted in vegetable gardens, researchers observed increased amounts of some brain nerve growth factors associated with memory in both male and female participants.
A mouse study from 2018 also suggests that moderate ultraviolet (UV) exposure, which comes from sun rays,
However, because this study was performed with mice, its findings cannot be translated to humans. More studies in humans are needed before gardening can be recommended as a memory enhancer for older adults.
Spending time with nature is a well-known mood booster and mental health enhancer, so much so that a therapy exists just for it — ecotherapy.
This therapy may help with:
- anxiety
- depression
- self-esteem
- substance misuse (keep reading for more on this)
- stress reduction (keep reading for more on this)
Gardening is
Nearly all of the studies in the review also agree that gardening activities may positively impact mental health in the same areas as ecotherapy and improve overall quality of life.
Working in a garden may help improve markers of stress, such as increased heart rate and blood pressure, according to a 2018 research review.
In the review, experts compiled 43 studies of stress responses to outdoor environments, which included gardening.
They found that, based on self-reported results, spending time in outdoor green spaces may reduce stress. They concluded this from the effects that being outside potentially had on heart rate and blood pressure.
According to a review from 2024, other studies have found that spending time in nature
Horticultural therapy has been around for many years, so it might not surprise you to learn that working with plants is part of many substance misuse recovery programs.
In one 2018 retrospective study of U.S. veterans visiting an inpatient substance misuse rehabilitation center, researchers found that half of the 56 veterans interviewed spent their free time in gardens.
The veterans reported that gardening helped them feel calm, serene, and refreshed both during and after the gardening session.
Students who participated in school gardens took photos of their work and shared what they experienced. They reported that the skills they learned and relationships they formed
Working in a garden with people of different ages, abilities, and backgrounds is a way to expand what you know and who you know.
Growing your own garden has, historically, been a way to resist injustice and claim space in a world that doesn’t always respond to your needs.
In an ecofeminist study entitled “Sisters of the Soil: Urban Gardening as Resistance in Detroit,” researcher Monica White describes the work of eight Black women who looked at gardening as a way to push back against “the social structures that have perpetuated inequality in terms of healthy food access,” allowing them “to create outdoor, living, learning, and healing spaces for themselves and for members of the community.”
As they plowed neglected land and cultivated crops in barren food deserts, these gardeners:
- improved their own health outcomes
- fought against unresponsive corporate food suppliers
- built a sense of self-determination.
If you’re looking for a way to combat inequities in the food system — or any injustice in your own life — you can begin with this powerful act: growing something of your own.
Read more about gardening from authors of color
- “American Grown” by Michelle Obama
- “The Good Food Revolution” by Will Allen
- “The Color of Food: Stories of Race, Resilience, and Farming” by Natasha Bowens
You can find these books at your local library or bookstore, or order them online by clicking the above links.
Witnessing the effects of climate change may increase stress levels and create a burdensome sense of guilt for many people.
To combat the negative health effects of eco-anxiety, you can garden with the aim of mitigating climate change.
The National Wildlife Federation recommends these actions if you want to cut carbon and some eco-anxiety on your own:
- Use manual tools instead of gas-powered ones.
- Use drip lines, rain barrels, and mulch to cut your water consumption.
- Compost to reduce waste and decrease methane production.
- Turn your yard into a Certified Wildlife Habitat and encourage your neighbors to do the same.
- Plant trees to absorb carbon dioxide.
Taking care of yourself while gardening
As is true of almost any activity, gardening poses certain risks to your health and safety. The CDC recommends that you take these precautions:
- Pay attention to product directions whenever you use chemicals. Some pesticides, weed killers, and fertilizers can be dangerous if used incorrectly.
- Wear gloves, goggles, long pants, closed-toe shoes, and other safety gear, especially if using sharp tools.
- Use bug spray and sunscreen (and don’t forget to reapply every 2 hours).
- Drink lots of water and take frequent shade breaks.
- Keep a close eye on children. Sharp tools, chemicals, and outdoor heat may pose more of a threat to kids.
- Listen to your body and take a break if you’re feeling faint, weak, or exhausted.
- Make sure you have a tetanus vaccination once every 10 years, as tetanus lives in the soil.
Gardening invites you to get outside, interact with other gardeners, and take charge of your own need for exercise, healthy food, and beautiful surroundings.
If you’re digging, hauling, and harvesting, your physical strength, heart health, weight, and immune system all benefit. And those are just the physiological outcomes.
Gardening can also cultivate feelings of empowerment, a human-nature connection, and creative calm.