A new study published in the journal HortTechnology makes it official. Gardening has enough physical benefits to meet the recommended exercise requirements of older people. The study looked only at the gardening habits of people between 63 and 86, but it is felt the results would transfer to other age groups. This is something I have believed since reading somewhere years ago that people who listed regular gardening as a hobby were among the longest lived people. When you add in the mental health benefits of gardening, like this one, a better activity would be hard to find.
Another interesting fact that this study found explains my difficulty finding time this month to write as much as I like to. Gardeners who kept logs for the researchers were found to garden an average of 33 hours a week in May! This dropped down to as low as 10 or 12 in June, July and August. As soon as I post this I am heading outside to the garden, so I am sure doing my part to keep May’s average up. It does make sense though, at least in the Northern Hemisphere. The work you put in at the start of the growing season is directly proportional to the results you see and vegetables you harvest later in the year. Now off I go!
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Good to know! Now if only if it would stop raining long enough for me to actually get outside into the garden, I would be happy!
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Good stuff. The Amish get a great deal of exercise by farming simply. Of course farming is a bit more than just gardening. http://engineering.curiouscatblog.net/2008/09/10/active-amish-avoid-obesity/
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Hey Will I can believe that. But I also find that some gardeners, like my parents, just don’t know where to stop, they get stressed and always say the same thing, this is my last year – oh yeah I hear this every year, lol. Excellent post Will and happy gardening. Anna
BTW I like the way you listed multiple post on the blog.
Annas last blog post..A Bit of Knowledge: A Picture is Worth a Thousand Words
Gardening as exercise? Yep! Works for me.
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The rain has stopped, the temp is in the 90’s and the weeds are doing what weeds do this time of year!
Anna – How does the garden stress them? It is supposed to do just the opposite!
John – The Amish also have tremendous willpower to avoid overeating. Plus they eat very little processed foods, one of the biggest baddies. Sometimes their lifestyle seems attractive, then I think about how much I love technology!
Hey Will, because they don’t do stuff in moderation. My parents are like children sometimes, don’t know where to stop, and then they get exhausted, lol. But most of the time they actually enjoy it very much. Anna
Annas last blog post..A Bit of Knowledge: A Picture is Worth a Thousand Words
I agree with you. My muscles that I didn’t even know I had.. hurts
I love to garden here in Plano and we even have a group that plants flowers for parks and schools.
Sarah in Planos last blog post..Why you should invest in your first home.