How gardening is good for your mental health

Posted on May 27, 2016

The UK report — aimed at the National Health Service of the UK — is just as relevant in the US. On a similar note, recent research surveying 811 people aged from 16 to 82, has found that people rate their gardens as significantly more restorative spaces than their lounges, terraces or balconies. And the most restorative gardens are those closest to nature. The key thing, though, is the relationship you have with the garden. People who got the most out of their gardens felt a real resonance with them.

Dr Renate Cervinka, the study’s first author, explained, “As with any good relationship, it is important that the garden meets the user’s needs and that both garden and user continue to evolve together. The message is that you should design your garden to be as close to nature as possible but, above all, you should enjoy it.” To get the full restorative effect from the garden it is also important to be able to switch off, Dr Cervinka continued, “The degree of restoration depends to a large extent upon a person’s ability to switch off.”

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Source material from PsyBlog