Question:
I'm a free-lance reporter for the
Life section of USA TODAY. (If you'd like to read some of my work I
have a piece in today, Jan. 10, on why people keep food around for so
long...) I'm researching a story on how gardening reduces stress.
Anyone out there into gardening primarily as a way to relax? Or perhaps
did your doctor recommend taking up gardening as a stress reducer? I'd
love to hear from you , if you happen to
know of any studies or research about that topic, I'd be interested in
that also.
Answer:
that raises the question, why do we garden in the first place? I have been
gardening most of my adult live, which has been pretty long, and I don't think I
ever thought about reducing stress with gardening. I think people who garden
have less stress, but that is because people who are ready to spend so many
hours of their time tending to vegetables and flowers are probably less prone to
stress in the first place. The stressed executive or manager would consider it
a waste of his precious time and I think it would be difficult to talk him into
it if it isn't his inclination. If he likes gardening, he will probably do so
anyway. I do it because I love the work with plants and I love the results.
Here's the link to your article in today's Today (as of today, that
is...tomorrow it will be yesterday's Today; day after tomorrow it will be
two days ago Today):
http://www.usatoday.com/usatonline/20000110/1830043s.htm
Re the current topic: I firmly believe that stress is one of the most
debilitating health issues around. I recall from a psych class some years
ago that a researcher named Selye came up with a theory about
stress...basically that we are born with a finite capacity to deal with it,
and once we use that up, we go over the edge.
I'm not sure whether gardening will reduce stress, or whether people
attracted to gardening are naturally stress-avoiders. You won't find many
naturally stress-causing aspects to gardening, as I understand the meaning
of the word. (I equate stress to a fast-paced, intense life-style, often
requiring quick decisions without all the necessary information to make a
sound decision.) Gardening is SLOW! It can take weeks to get a seed to
germinate; then it can take months for a seedling to mature into a fruit or
flower-bearing plant...not exactly the kind of activity that Type A people
are attracted to, IMO.
The other activities involved in gardening, such as soil preparation,
fertilizing, weeding, etc., tend to be somewhat forgiving, also. There are
windows of time involved in all these activities, but it's not real precise;
i.e., I know I should turn my soil for my annual flowers and vegetables in
mid-April, but if I don't do it exactly on the 15th, it can wait until the
20th - or even until the first week in May. So I don't get stressed if it's
not done on April 15th. The same with planting, weeding, and the rest. I
suppose someone could *make* it stressful by trying to adhere to a rigid
schedule, but for me it's not that way.
Somehow I can't imagine gardening as a prescription for reducing stress...if
one is stressed by other factors, I don't think gardening will help. I
found exercise to help more in reducing stress than anything else.
Gardening provides a certain amount of exercise in the spring, when you're
preparing soil and planting, but not much beyond that.
