‘… Hands in the dirt, head on the sun, heart with nature. To nurture a garden is to feed not just on the body, but the soul.’
A.Austin
A Green Prescription (GRx) is a health professional’s written advice to a patient to be physically active, as part of the patient’s health management. It’s not completely new when some patients are recommended to spend some time in nature and community gardening as a part of treatment for some mental conditions (e.g. depression and anxiety). The “Green Prescriptions” or ‘horticultural therapy’ instead of drugs seems work well in some countries.
Indeed, recent studies shows ‘the healing power of a quite moment with nature’ – a long-lasting and deep positive impact on health, including on depression and anxiety symptoms (Beyer et al., 2014)
Furthermore, research shows that gardening can directly improve people’s mental health. Indeed, the positive effect is seen for a range of health outcomes: reductions in depression and anxiety symptoms, stress, mood disturbance, and body-mass index, and increases in wellbeing, sense of community, physical activity, and cognitive function.
Moreover, ‘getting our hands in the dirt’ has both immediate (several hours) and long-term beneficial influence on health.
Scientists believe this is due to a few factors:
(1) direct experience with nature (natural world is cognitively restorative),
(2) it encourages people to undertake physical exercise,
(3) it helps people to form the habit of eating fresh, rich in fruits and vegetables, locally grown food,
(4)social communication – it often includes interaction with other members of local communities (e.g. allotment & community gardens) and thus creates a real sense of community.
If you want to be happy for a lifetime be a gardener!
There are no happier volks than plant lowers, and none more generous than those who garden.
E. H. Wilso
Neuroscience of wellbeing 