Gardening makes you happy and keeps you healthy

Spring has arrived! The days are lengthening, the temperatures rising and the skies brightening. More importantly, the spring flowers are starting to bloom. Daffodils, crocus, tulips and primroses are carpeting gardens, parks and roadsides.

The beginning of spring is when the green-fingered amongst us head into the garden to start weeding, pruning and planting.

Fresh air and exercise, getting close to Nature and playing a part in the burgeoning of new life is a great way to boosting physical and psychological wellbeing.

Everything about gardening suggests that it is good for us on lots of levels. And now a study confirms it. Researchers from two universities in Texas have found that gardening exercises the brain as well as the body – giving people more energy and a “zest for life”.

Using a psychological index called the Life Satisfaction Inventory, academics analysed 300 men and women and discovered that 71 per cent of gardeners did not “feel old”, compared with 57 per cent of non-gardeners.

The green-fingered also felt more energetic and took more daily exercise, with three times as many non-gardeners considering themselves “physically inactive”.

The studies, published in the specialist journal HortTechnology, also showed that gardeners are more likely to plan and organise a diary for the coming months, showing them to be more mentally active. In addition, there were higher scores for general “life satisfaction” and gardeners were also more likely to eat fresh vegetables, whether or not they had grown them.

“These factors, in conjunction with higher physical activity, result in healthier lifestyles and increased quality of life,” said lead researcher Aime Sommerfeld.

If you’ve recently separated or divorced, you may be feeling at a low ebb, physically as well as emotionally. But the arrival of spring heralds the start of a new beginning – and gardening is a good way for you start over again too.

Many people feel like hiding away at home when their relationship comes to an end, which is understandable. That’s why taking up gardening is the ideal way to embark on something new. It doesn’t involve socialising or even leaving the house (apart from quick trips to the local garden centre). At the same time, working with the soil, creating new life and turning your garden – however small – into a pretty or productive place can have a really positive effect on your mood and sense of purpose as well as your fitness.