Garden
Your Way to Better Health
By Melinda Myers
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[April 04, 2020]
Break
out the tools and garden your way to a healthier mind, body and
spirit. Gardeners know and research proves that getting outdoors,
digging in the soil and gardening help strengthen muscles, increase
flexibility, reduce stress and elevate our mood.
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Include gardening as a major component of your
workout schedule. You’ll stretch and strengthen muscles while
promoting cardiovascular health and maintaining bone mass. A
University of Arkansas study found that yard work as well as weight
training significantly maintained bone density in women over 50.
And for those trying to lose weight, add 30 minutes of gardening to
your daily or weekly routine to help shed some extra pounds. A half
hour of raking burns 162 calories, weeding 182, and turning the
compost pile a whopping 250. Gardening several times per week will
help keep you and your landscape looking top notch.
Don’t let a lack of time, space or painful joints stop you from
growing nutritious vegetables, beautiful flowers or an attractive
landscape. Staying active through gardening not only increases
flexibility and strengthens muscles, it helps fight anxiety and
depression that arthritis sufferers and others often experience.
Those struggling with limited time, space or mobility may want to
try container and elevated gardening. Both can be placed on patios,
decks or balconies. Select a size and style you can easily reach and
one that matches your garden design. Those on a tight budget can add
drainage holes and paint 5-gallon food grade containers or nursery
pots to create attractive planters.
Protect and support your hands with gloves that fit and provide
support like Foxgloves’ Works gloves (foxglovesinc.com). Padding and
reinforced fingertips protect your hands and knuckles from scrapes
and bruises. Gloves with long cuffs or those that extend to the
elbow provide added protection when working in the garden.
Select gloves that are machine washable, so you always have a clean
pair ready when you venture out to the garden. Keep a pair of
gloves, pruner and your favorite weeding tool in a bucket near the
front or back door. You won’t waste time looking for your favorite
tools plus you can take advantage of those small blocks of time to
weed, deadhead or pick a bouquet of flowers to enjoy.
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Enlist the help of ergonomic tools that allow you to
garden longer with less pain and fatigue. Look for designs that keep
your back and wrist straight when digging, pruning and raking.
Select tools with soft wide grips to further reduce hand fatigue.
Wrap the handles of existing tools with foam pipe insulation for
added padding.
Protect your joints and muscles while gardening. Warm
up, just as you would for any workout, with a few simple stretches.
Protect your knees by using a stool, kneeling pad or one-legged
kneel instead of squatting.
Take regular breaks. Gardening in twenty-minute intervals and
resting in between to enjoy your handiwork and hydrate will pay off
with less muscle strain and fatigue. You’ll then be ready for your
next workout session in the garden that will invigorate your mind,
body and spirit.
Melinda Myers has written numerous books, including Small Space
Gardening. She hosts The Great Courses “How to Grow Anything” DVD
series and the nationally-syndicated Melinda’s Garden Moment TV &
radio program. Myers is a columnist and contributing editor for
Birds & Blooms magazine and was commissioned by Foxgloves for her
expertise to write this article. Her web site is
www.MelindaMyers.com.
[Photo credit: photo courtesy of
FoxGlovesInc.com]
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