Does Your Garden Help With Your Mental Health?

Does Your Garden Help With Your Mental Health?
The one good thing about lockdown is that it drew everyone’s attention to the commonness of mental health issues. It is thought that as many as 1 in 4 people in England experience mental health problems at least once during their life time. Researchers are certain that access to a green space such as a garden can have a positive impact on wellbeing and mental health and gardening is know to help relieve anxiety and depression. But that doesn’t mean that every garden is helpful to their stressed owners. Some gardens are so untidy and overgrown that the thought of tackling the mess is simply overwhelming.

How Do Gardens Help Heal Mental Health Problems?
Mental health problems are multifaceted and no two people will be triggered in the same way. Neither will their experience of poor mental health be the same as somebody else diagnosed with the same condition. But here’s the thing, gardens and gardening are highly personalised too.

A person can engage with a garden in many different ways according to their personality and their state of health. For some, hearing the hum of the lawnmower whilst striding up and down the garden has a soothing rhythm. It’s akin to the feeling of being in an old fashioned train carriage with the rails repeating that meditative dah dum dee dum sound.  For others, a good hard digging session will chase away feelings of anger and disappointment. And for still more people, sitting indoors and watching the birds through a window is a welcome distraction from the worries of the world.

One thing that research suggests is beneficial to all humans, is the colour green. Hedges, trees, plants - green is the dominant colour in most gardens and it subliminal benefits are all inclusive. Anybody, of any age, income bracket, fitness level or education can benefit from spending time surrounded by the greenery of nature.

Increased physical activity is associated with improvements in mental health. But you don’t have to be super-fit to get involved with gardening. You can start with short easy bursts of activity and build on them as you begin to feel better. 10 minutes spend sowing seeds can grow into 30 minutes pricking out seedlings and then an hour planting out the petunias you have grown. The pride in having nurtured some plants benefits self esteem just as much as fitting a little more movement into the day, benefits physical health.

Recovery from mental health problems is rarely an overnight sensation. But neither is nurturing a garden.

Can Gardens Prevent Mental Health Problems?
Along with better awareness of the association between gardening and recovery from mental health. It feels as though lockdown helped people to understand the role of their garden in preventing mental health problems.

Recognising and addressing feelings of anxiety, boredom or low mood, can help to avert a full blown mental health crisis. And what could be easier than slipping outdoors to dead head the roses, mow the lawn or sow seeds? Spending half an hour or so weeding a flower bed, and then stepping back to see the difference you’ve made is an incredible mood booster.

What If Your Garden Makes You Feel More Anxious?
Not everyone’s garden is a fairy-tale ideal space full of butterflies and birdsong. It’s important to recognise that for some people, the very thought of tackling their garden is overwhelmingly stressful.

Overgrown shrubs, rotten sheds and heaps of accumulated ‘stuff’ is enough to make anyone’s heart sink. As are external factors that cannot be controlled. Things such as road noise or a lack of privacy can make outdoor spaces feel quite uncomfortable.

The good news is, that professional garden designers, landscapers and gardeners all have the ability to help create a restful space, turning nightmare gardens into peaceful spaces.