A
s a cancer survivor and
garden designer, I can attest
to the fact that gardening is
a mood lifter, a body balancer and a
mind clearer. So much so, that as I
was recovering from treatment,
I was compelled to write a book on
the subject, “The Cancer Survivor’s
Garden Companion: Cultivating Hope,
Healing & Joy in the Ground Beneath
Your Feet,” as a way of helping other
people use their gardens as resources
for a happier, healthier and more
balanced life. Gardens can lift your
mood and soothe your soul, making
even the most stressed-out person
more balanced and healthy.

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Most of us have too many things going
on in our lives on a day-to-day basis.

Whether we work outside the home,
have a busy desk job or take care of
children, we try to be multi-tasking
champions, often at the risk of our
own health. Experts call this “Directed
Attention Fatigue” — our minds are
forced to focus too long and too hard,
with overloading and constant stimuli.

It’s not good for anyone, and it can
take a serious toll on every part of us.

GARDENING FOR
Health and Wellness
BY JENNY PETERSON
It’s not difficult to see that gardening is great light exercise, right?
Hauling mulch bags, turning the compost, digging holes and
raking leaves all use your entire body, stretching and building
muscle. But what if you knew that gardening is actually good for
your emotional health as well? In fact, gardening is known to be
beneficial for every single part of you — body, mind and spirit.

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A simple antidote is to get outside
in the garden, because when we
garden, the mind is able to relax and
focus on just one thing. And with
some garden tasks like weeding and
watering, no focus is even necessary
— we know what to do and can do
it on autopilot. This allows the mind
and body to decompress and simply
connect to the moment.

A number of things that happen in the
body when you garden distinguish
this activity from any other type of
“workout.” Fresh air, sunshine and
light movement can be invigorating
for your body. Combine that with the
connection to nature, growing healthy
food and making your outdoor space
attractive and inviting, and you’ve
got the perfect ingredients for feeling
strong, balanced and mindful.




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FIVE WAYS GARDENING IS
GOOD FOR THE BODY
• Increased flexibility
• Exposure to Vitamin D from
sunshine helps body absorb
calcium • Burns up to 330 calories per hour
• Lowers risk of heart attacks by
27 percent as you age
• Lowers blood pressure:
30 minutes, three times a week
Start cultivating a mindset about
gardening that removes it from the
“to-do” list and puts it squarely on the
“lifestyle” list, integrating the natural
world into your daily life by starting
with the garden.

And speaking of growing healthy
food, we’ve heard so much in recent
years about how healthy spinach
and kale are, haven’t we? I’m going
to assume for the moment that we
know that the dark leafy greens are
nutrient powerhouses. What many of
us don’t know is the extent to which
many other fruits and vegetables
deliver a healthy punch. While we
don’t necessarily need to memorize
lists of nutrients and which foods carry
them, it’s a good practice to reach for
the brightly colored foods — fruits
and vegetables that are red, purple,
orange, black, blue and dark green are
known to carry significant amounts
of nutrients and chemical compounds
that are good for us.

You don’t need to create an orchard
or have a full acre of vegetable garden
to grow nutritious foods. Use your
balcony railing, potted herbs/tomatoes
on your patio or deck or a small
in-ground garden in your backyard.

Keep it simple, plant the powerhouses
and eat up!
Fun fact: When you dig around in the
soil, planting flowers and harvesting
vegetables, you are coming into contact
with something called Mycobacterium
vaccae, beneficial bacteria that help
to stabilize mood and promote better
sleep. What’s even more interesting is
that you don’t even need to dig to be
exposed, because simply being outside
in the garden and inhaling can do the
trick quite nicely. We are trained to
think that all bacteria are bad, but that
is not necessarily the case: Exposure
to these “good” bacteria in the soil can
help strengthen the immune system,
optimizing health.

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As you continue gardening, expanding
your skills and knowledge base, start
thinking of other activities that you
can bring out to the garden. Begin
with activities that you used to only do
inside, and then figure out a way to do
them outside in your garden. Create
areas in your garden that help you do
these things more easily, like small,
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