“Plant a garden if you have never experienced the joy of accomplishing more than you can imagine”. This quote by Robert Brault reflects the importance of gardening and its endless benefits for people’s health and the environment.
Why Is Gardening So Crucial In Our Lives?
Geoffrey Charlesworth- an opinionated gardener, asserts that when someone starts to garden, they realize that something important happens daily. His assertions could not be further from the truth in a fast-paced world where everyone seems to be on top of their devices. We are stressed more than ever before. Everyone seems not to sit, walk or drive without browsing the web, texting, or calling.
Gardening is not just about digging and dirt, as one might think. It is all about rejuvenation, creation, and awards. It will only be sensible not to wait until “after fifty” because gardening is essential for your health. It is a great way to relieve stress, nurture something, and set goals.
Whether gardening should be taught in schools is a topic that has long been debated. However, it is hard to deny that gardens generally have an exciting universal appeal. If you are walking in a nursery or a garden in a school compound, you will experience a feeling that brightens your modern world. Much of this will have to do with something deep-down in you: inborn gratitude for the natural world.
Reasons for Teaching Gardening in Schools
Encourage healthy eating habits
A recent study revealed that 1 in 3 children become overweight before they attain 11 due to the high intake of junk food. Additionally, the number of time students spend outdoors is decreasing dramatically. More often than not, students spend more time indoors than prison inmates. This can be attributed to the influence of technology and the lack of green spaces.
That said, if gardening were included in the school curriculum, students would have the opportunity to gain helpful development skills while gaining extra outdoor exercises. Furthermore, gardening will aid in revising attitudes about particular foods. For instance, a student is more likely to try vegetables and fruits they have grown. Subsequently, this practice can help improve the families’ meal choices.
Raising Environmental Appreciation
As mentioned above, students are spending more time indoors than ever before. For this reason, they need to be reconnected with nature to increase their appreciation for their surroundings. Environmental stewardship is also attainable if the students’ connection with nature is deepened.
More specifically, students will learn about water and energy cycles, the needs of diverse species, and the food chain. As a result, the desire to explore outside will be heightened. In the long run, the students will gain insights into the human impact in regards to the natural environment. They will also have first-hand experience of the importance of conserving nature.
Gardening Helps Fight Diseases
Human beings are more like plants in one way or the other. Our bodies are capable of photosynthesis. The skin often uses sunlight to make vitamin D. Experts in the field of science assert that half an hour of basking in the sunlight produces between 8,000 to 50,000 international units of vitamin D. However, the results will depend on the type of clothes and the skin color.
The fact remains that vitamin D assists in the strengthening of bones and boosting the immune system. Being outdoors in the sun can also aid in lowering the risk of the following diseases.
Multiple Sclerosis
Prostate cancer
Breast cancer
Bladder cancer
Colorectal cancer
However, if vitamin D is low, one can develop type II diabetes and dementia. On the other hand, excessive sunlight can lead to skin cancer. A little sunshine is enough during lunch breaks and it can go a long way in strengthening the body.
Gardening Protects Your Memory
Regular exercise is known to improve cognitive functioning in the brain. Whether gardening on its own is enough for cognitive brain functioning is a debatable topic. Still, new evidence reveals that gardening activities may spur growth in the brain memory-related nerve.
20-minutes research conducted in Korea for people with dementia showed that gardening increased the amounts of some brain nerves associated with memory in both male and female patients. A similar study also revealed that horticultural therapy is effective for people with dementia.
Likewise, people with dementia in Norway often participate in green care programs working a large part of the day on gardens.
Gardening Helps in Reducing Anxiety
Exam period is known to course lots of stress to students, and besides other activities, gardening supports recuperating when it comes to stressful circumstances.
A 2011 study exposed participants to a stressful activity. Half of the group was asked to spend time reading, and the other half spent time in the garden. As soon as the levels of stress hormone cortisol in their bodies was tested, the gardening group had recovered from stress better than their reading counterparts. Most people in the gardening group confirmed that their moods were stable, while only a handful of readers were in a positive state of mind.
Given these points, students who feel anxious and stressed about exams should consider going outdoors for gardening activities. There are high chances of coming out stress-free and with a positive mindset.
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Gardening Helps in Addiction Recovery
It should not surprise that gardening activities could be part of an addiction recovery program. Plants provoke positive feelings in addicts and recovering addicts, and hence they are an effective rehabilitation tool. Recovering addicts who choose gardening from a list of other activities like carpentry complete the rehabilitation program successfully and with a more satisfying experience than those who decided on arts and other activities.
In Summary
Gardening should be taught in schools by all means. The benefits of gardening far much outweigh its drawbacks. Not only will students learn how to develop their skills, but gardening will aid in fostering a mindset of exploration. Healthy eating will be encouraged, and chronic diseases will significantly decline. You can buy gardening products to help in this process from https://topratedbuyerguides.com/