Pastimes improve the quality of life. Finding pastimes and hobbies that you enjoy offer a sense of purpose, stress relief, and an enjoyable way to spend your day. Gardening is one of those pastimes that gets tied to the senior community, but did you know that gardening is actually incredibly beneficial for seniors? In fact, research has been done that show that gardening is one of the greatest ways for a senior to spend their time and has added health benefits!
Research showed that gardening has been used as a tool to relax and soothe veterans, troubled youth and the elderly community. Some of the benefits of gardening are expected, but there are some that you may make gardening a new hobby of yours.
Fresh Air & Vitamin D
These are likely the benefits that you expected from gardening, but they go alot further than expected. Vitamin D is one of the vitamins that elderly are most likely to be deficient in, so gardening for even 30 minutes a day will allow your body to get more vitamin D than it normally would. Also, fresh air helps to keep lungs healthy!
Therapeutic & Stress Relieving
Spending time in the quiet environment can relieve you of the stress and distractions that the world exposes us to. Being able to be alone with your thoughts, or with a friend for conversation, keeps your brain working and focused on positive aspects.
Gardening has shown to improve bone density with the amount of vitamin D that’s consumed, help improve sleep cycles, reduce stress, benefit attention skills, and more. Starting a garden in your home can provide you with all of these benefits, and some fresh fruit and vegetables too. Ask the professionals at Wilson Care in Honolulu, Hawaii about other pastimes and hobbies that could be beneficial to your health.
