Mum Know Best
March 22, 2022
Avoiding aches and pains of holiday travel
July 11, 2022
Ensuring a pain free gardening week
Taking the pain out of gardening, particularly at the start of the spring summer season, is really important. For many of you it finding the time and weather to get out in the garden has been difficult. Similar to sports people at the start of their playing season your body is out of condition, and it reacts to the change in activity.Over the Easter weekend many of my patients will be in the garden, cutting grass, clearing up after the winter and making the most of the extra time off to get on top of the many jobs required to get their gardens summer ready.
For some people gardening is a passion, for others it is a chore that gets put off until it really has to be done. However the satisfaction and sense of well being at the end of a hard day doesn't just come from looking at a tidy garden, but also from having spent time outside engaging in physical activity. There are many health benefits that come from gardening.
Health Benefits of Gardening.
- Did you know an hour's gardening burns the following calories?
- Clearing the winter debris - 400kcal
- Mowing the lawn 250-350kcal
- Planting flowers 200-400kcal
- Weeding - 200-400kcal
Research from Harvard www.health.harvard.edu/diet-and-weight-loss/calories-burned-in-30-minutes-for-people-of-three-different-weights Mar 2021
Physical benefits of gardening
- Gardening requires you to use your body in many different ways stretching joints and engaging muscles often underused if you have a job which requires you to sit or stand in the same place all day long.
- That's why you can feel achy for a couple days after a big gardening session
- Leading to better sleep and improved mental health
- Through the physical activity your heart will also get a workout.
- Helps to lower your blood pressure.
- Exposure to the bacteria in the soil encourages your immune system develop effective responses to them.
- Vitamin D exposure helps to manage the immune system response reducing susceptibility to infection, as well as playing a role in the uptake of calcium and the strengthening of bones.
Mental health benefits of gardening
- Reduces anxiety and depression
- Gardening 2-3 times a week had the maximum benefit on well being scores.Why garden? – Attitudes and the perceived health benefits of home gardening, May 2021
- Contact with nature has a positive effect on those with high levels of stress, through exposure to relaxing natural stimuli triggering the parasympathetic nervous system which manages relaxation and wellbeing WHO Urban Green Spaces and Health 2016
Spring Gardening Tips
-
To help you take the pain out of gardening follow these tips to ensure your body is ready and you are less likely to struggle after completing the tasks.
- Stretch out before you start
- the exercises I recommended in my autumn gardening blog still apply here, just swap leaf clearing for digging or mowing the lawn.
- Choose the right tools for the job
- a suitable surface that is the right height for you for potting out those seedlings, or new plants
- a sturdy stool or step ladder for cutting back those hard to reach plants.
- Make sure you use the right posture for the task in hand
- Bend at the knees, not the back.
- Alternate the way in which you twist and bend when digging
- Manage your working time
- Don’t work for hours to to complete all of the tasks in one go.
- Break your work up into manageable chunks – maybe 1 wheelie bin full at a go.
- Take a break every 30 minutes.
- Make the most of any small helpers you have
- Children love to be outside and helping. Ok, you may have to have some rules, and accept some plants may not survive, but children can get into those hard to reach places and will enjoy pulling out the weeds to make the garden look better.
- Let them have their own patch to plant or seeds to pot.
- Stay hydrated
- You may not feel like you are sweating, but you need to ensure you continue to drink as if you were exercising in a gym.
- Aim to have a drink every time you take a break, every half hour or so.
- For more information on staying hydrated check out my blog stay hydrated this Christmas , whilst this talks about Christmas hydration it still applies here.
- Beware of the Sun (hopefully)
- Wear a hat if it is sunny and you are out between 11am-3pm
- Use suntan lotion - Vitamin D is great for your health, but sunburn isn't. For more on the benefits of vitamin D read my blog should I take vitamin D
- Wear suitable clothing, loose fitting and where necessary cover your arms and legs if you are doing battle with brambles etc.