OpinionsNurse TalesHealth benefits of gardening

Health benefits of gardening

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Stamatis Moraitis, a.k.a. the man who (almost) forgot to die, was a Greek immigrant to the US, who worked hard like the others. In 1975, he was diagnosed with lung cancer and was told he had six to nine months to live.

The cancer diagnosis and the high cost of funerals in the US convinced him to go back to his island of birth (Ikaria) with his wife and family to spend what he thought to be his final months to live on this earth. He refused chemotherapy and other medications prescribed by his American doctors. He opted for a different therapy — nature, his community, and some old-fashioned brew of his own. All he cared about was his garden, his parent’s vineyard, and his homemade wine (which he drank two to three cups a day, not enough to make him an alcoholic). He also used olive oil in salads and cooking, and ate a lot of herbs. Six months went by, he felt stronger and his health actually continued to improve. He lived almost 40 years after that cancer diagnosis. He eventually outlived his doctors, and died on Feb. 3, 2013 at the age of 98 or 102.

Plants and healing gardens. The belief that plants and gardens are beneficial for patients in healthcare environments is more than a thousand years old, and appears prominently in Asian and western cultures (Ulrich & Parsons, 1992). In our present setting, the healthcare community has been increasingly aware of the need to create functionally efficient and hygienic environments which have also pleasant and stress reducing characteristics. Healthcare administrators globally are under pressure to control or reduce costs yet increase care quality. In addition, the Joint Commission for Accreditation of Hospitals recommends that “Patients and visitors should have opportunities to connect with nature through outside spaces, plants, indoor atriums, and views from windows.”

Benefits of gardens: 1) Encourage exercise. 2) Promote serenity and spiritual wellbeing. 3) Encourage social interaction. 4) Improve circulation. 5) Reduce bone loss. 6) Improve coordination. 7) Promote Vitamin D exposure. 8) Enhance stronger immune system. 9) Promote calming and healing. A type of soil bacteria, Mycobacterium vaccae, is believed to stimulate the production of norepinephrine and serotonin in one’s body just like an anti-depressant.

Research studies on effects of nature. One fascinating study revealed that tenants in a Chicago public housing who had trees around their buildings reported knowing more people, having stronger feelings of unity with neighbors, becoming more concerned with helping and supporting of each other, stronger feelings of belonging than those tenants in buildings without trees. There was also less violence in buildings with trees than those without trees. In another study, it was shown that aside from psychological benefits of reducing stress and anxiety, nature also has physical benefits. In a study of patients who had gallbladder surgery, half of them had a view of nature and half had a view of a wall — results showed that those with the view of nature tolerated pain better, slept better, reported less stress, and spent less time in the hospital.

Designing our garden (at home or in the workplace/community) can minimize dust in the air, reduce mold problems in the house, cool your home/workplace in the summer, giving us better resistance from allergies. Gardening, a wonderdrug, gardens and nature all play important roles in one’s healing, health and happiness.

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Author’s email: [email protected]

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