By Mia Barnes, Founder and Editor-in-Chief of Body+Mind Magazine.
Gardening is an enjoyable hobby people of all ages can get into. The satisfaction of growing a seed from scratch until it bears fruit is boundless. Many seniors get involved in this activity because of their nurturing instincts, sense of responsibility and emotional connection they develop with the plants. Discover the merits of gardening for seniors and learn some tips to make it age-friendly.
The Benefits of Gardening for Seniors
1. Promotes Light Exercise
Digging, planting and walking around can serve as a warmup to loosen the muscles, stretch the joints, strengthen the body and maintain good mobility.
Gardening involves repeated actions that engage the body from head to toe, encouraging an active lifestyle. Tending to plants has myriad physical health benefits. One study found seniors who care for a garden have better heart health and a lower risk of diabetes. If running or jogging isn’t your cup of tea, try gardening to escape a sedentary lifestyle. Since it’s enjoyable, you don’t feel the pressure of needing to exercise.
2. Boosts Immunity
Gardening is considered a natural remedy to power up your immune system. When out in the garden in the morning, you increase exposure to vitamin D — an essential compound to improve bone health and muscle function and support the body’s defenses.
Moreover, working with soil exposes you to a particular bacterium that improves health. Experts analyzed the blood and brain activity of gardeners who mixed soil using two materials — sterilized ground with culture media and Streptomyces rimosus. They found that the group that touched Streptomyces rimosus in the loam had higher levels of serotonin associated with good mood and lower C-reactive protein linked with inflammation.
Experts conclude that contact with natural microorganisms in soil has positive psychophysiological effects.
3. Maintains Dexterity
Gardening also enhances dexterity. Part of aging is the decline in physical strength and speed in your hands, limiting your daily tasks. Engaging actively in this hobby, where you plant, prune, strengthen your grip by handling tools and boost hand-eye coordination, can bolster your dexterity. However, the biggest health gain of being more dexterous is the sense of autonomy and self-reliance.
Everyday tasks like personal grooming, cooking and dressing can be accomplished with ease if you maintain the strength and control of your hands, which you can do through gardening. Using them every day can preserve their strength and delay their decline.
4. Reduces Stress and Anxiety
Natural elements have a healing power, so it’s not surprising that gardening can relieve your stress and put you in a better head space.
One study found it improves mood disturbance, depression, perceived stress and anxiety in healthy women. Gardening combines many skills, like planning, creativity, learning and movement, which makes it highly therapeutic. When plants are your company, you gain a superpower to counter chronic stress that affects your mood and makes you irritable. You learn to live in the moment and let go of your worries.
5. Increases Sense of Purpose and Accomplishments
Many seniors experience a crisis during retirement as they don’t know what to do next. Should you start a business? Travel? These are some of the common questions you might ask yourself. Age may trigger life transitions, but pursuing a sense of purpose and accomplishment lasts as long as you live.
Gardening may seem inconsequential to an outsider’s eyes. Still, the joy of touching the dirt, digging the ground, planting, watering and harvesting can give a sense that you’re doing something meaningful with your time and energy. It reminds you to wake up with purpose.
6. Achieves Better Memory and Cognition
Gardening is as much an exercise to your physical body as to your brain. To ensure you get yields or results, you must plan what seeds to germinate in a specific season and organize how to plant them. You decide what type of soil condition and climate is the best for growing or how to solve the irrigation problems. Every day presents new learning opportunities and challenges to get through.
Gardening is a safe way to train your brain, as it involves the use of combined cognitive skills, such as memory, planning, problem-solving and analysis. It can help you preserve these abilities with practice so you don’t lose them with age.
7. Combats Loneliness and Isolation
A community garden is an incredible opportunity to socialize. As you approach your golden years, one change you’ll notice is the reduced social activities. It may be harder to meet with friends because your knees hurt, or maybe no one can drive you, leading to social withdrawal and loneliness.
Fortunately, you don’t have to go too far to nurture your social skills. What better way to build relationships than over a shared hobby? Gardening is enjoyed by both young and old, so you’ll certainly find a tribe with a similar fun obsession with plants as you do. Check for a community garden in your area and ask how to become a member.
8. Gets You Involved in Green Movements
Many young people think seniors aren’t interested in sustainability, but they are. They’re less cooperative because of their limited information about the subject and the choices available to them. Climate change wasn’t a widely discussed topic when they were younger, so they may be less involved in green initiatives — but are just as dedicated to healing the environment.
Around 57% of baby boomers cite that fixing the climate should be a top priority to ensure a sustainable planet for future generations, and 29% consider addressing climate change a personal concern. Gardening allows them to participate in green movements in their own way.
9. Provides Fresh and Healthy Food
Nothing is more satisfying for a gardener than seeing the fruits of their labor and using the vegetables they harvested as fresh ingredients to cook a delicious meal. A healthy garden can be your source of chemical-free produce. Growing your own food makes you an environmental hero.
Tips for Safe and Comfortable Gardening
Working with soil and plants is generally a safe activity. Still, it may pose some health risks to seniors with medical conditions, mobility challenges or disabilities. Here are practical, age-friendly tips to make gardening less risky.
1. Delegate Other Tasks
Some seniors require assistance with tasks they can no longer handle. When gardening, it is best to not be overly ambitious and take one more than one can handle. For example, while you enjoy some light weeding and planting your favorite flowers, you can delegate larger lawn and home maintenance to professionals.
Several organizations provide caregiving support through volunteers or connect you with reliable home care agencies. You can reach out to the Programs of All-Inclusive Care for the Elderly or Area Agencies on Aging, which has over 600 offices nationwide, to get help.
2. Adopt Ergonomic Tools and Raised Beds
The right tools can make gardening easy, even for seniors living with disabilities. For instance, a steerable scoot is a valuable tool for tasks that require squatting or stooping. Raised beds are essential for digging or planting at a comfortable ground height.
3. Design a Layout With Wide Walkways
Another consideration is the garden layout. Ensure there’s enough space for walking or moving mobility aids like a wheelchair. It allows for convenient navigation and organizes plants that may obstruct walkways.
4. Install Nonslip Mats
An indoor garden needs to have nonslip surfaces to prevent falls or trips. Each year, more than one out of four seniors fall — but you can mitigate the risks by ensuring the ground you walk on has enough traction to hold your weight. Adding nonslip mats or rugs to an indoor garden should be a priority. Meanwhile, wearing gardening shoes outdoors protects against accidents. These have waterproof construction and offer sufficient grip to traverse uneven surfaces easily.
5. Add Adequate Lighting
If you’re the type to enjoy a light walk in the garden after dinner, install lighting on your green sanctuary so you get a clear view of the path. That way, it’s safer even if you take a stroll alone. Lighting prevents trips and falls and also adds to your garden’s aesthetics.
6. Stay Hydrated
When you enjoy what you do, it’s easy to forget the time. Remember to take frequent breaks between digging and watering to prevent exhaustion. You can even set an alarm to remind you it’s time to rehydrate. Drink water frequently and move at a healthy pace.
7. Learn From Community Gardens
Join a community garden to expand your knowledge of plant species. You can collaborate with others and learn about the gardening calendar and the best planting techniques. A communal garden is a good place to start if you’re not ready to tend your own plot.
8. Integrate Technology
Apps like Planter and LeafSnap can teach you the correct methods to grow vegetables, including when to plant the seeds indoors and transplant and move them outdoors. This can help you from feeling overwhelmed if it’s your first time gardening. The platforms also include care tips to guide you if you’re over- or underwatering the seedlings or overexposing them to sunlight.
Draw Happiness Into Your Life Through Gardening
Working with plants and soil is a meaningful hobby to cultivate. It has physical and mental health benefits and exercises your brain to preserve cognitive functions. Everyone can start a garden since it doesn’t require an expensive investment, which is an advantage for retirees. If you’re approaching your golden years and thinking about what to do next, insert gardening into your agenda. You’ll enjoy the benefits and fulfillment it will bring into your life.
About the Author
Mia Barnes has been a freelance writer for over 4 years with expertise in healthy living and sustainability. Mia is also the Founder and Editor-in-Chief of the online publication, Body+Mind Magazine.