Recent research suggests that gardening can provide various health benefits, such as reducing the risk of developing cancer and other chronic illnesses. Manu Prats/Stocksy
A new study has revealed that those who are employed in gardens for community use a variety of health benefits, which can lower the risk of developing cancer-related chronic diseases and may improve mental wellbeing.
The controlled, randomized trial included 145 participants who had have never had a garden before, and monitored their mental and physical health throughout and after a gardening season.
Participants ate much more fibre and did more exercises and felt more connected and less stressed because of their experience as a community gardener.
Engaging in community gardening can reduce the chance of developing serious illnesses, including cancer, as well as mental health problems, according to a new study.
Researchers from researchers at the University of Colorado Boulder (CU Boulder) have shown that individuals reap multiple health benefits from gardening in the community.
Gardeners have increased their fiber intake through eating fresher produce exercising more, tending gardens, and feeling more connected to their friends, All of which are beneficial against mental health issues, as well as numerous chronic diseases.
Studies conducted in the past have found that gardening, generally, can provide certain advantages. However, these findings from the CU Boulder study are the first controlled, randomized study (RCT) to study the advantages of gardening, particularly community gardening.
Gardening is beneficial for the beginner.
Researchers enlisted 291 people who had never had a garden before. They averaged 41.5 years old and 34% of them of them were classified as Hispanic. Of the participants there were 18% males (52 participants) and the other half were from families with lower incomes.
Researchers carried out three gardening cycles that lasted 1 year each. They began in May, shortly before the end of frost, and were buried in Denver, Colorado, and Aurora, CO, where the gardens were situated. Half of each participant took part in gardening, and the other the other half didn’t, acting as the control group.
Participants received an introduction to gardening by Denver Urban Gardens and was assigned the standard 10-square-meter community garden plot as well in seedlings and seeds.
This was also offered to individuals in the control group to compensate them for not having the time gardening throughout the study.
The lead research author Jill S. Litt, Ph.D., professor of environmental studies at CU Boulder, told Medical News Today that the participants spent on average 90 minutes per week in the garden and tended to their gardens at least two times throughout the week.
