Plant Power: Why Everyone is Becoming Green-Thumbs
Ever since the start of quarantine, raising plants seems to have become a nationwide trend, especially among younger generations. Maybe this is due to trending aesthetics, personal fulfillment, environmental concerns, or even self-improvement. One thing for sure though is that it is on a steady rise as more people choose to partake in growing and obtaining plants.
There are many people who believe that this new, rising interest in plant caretaking developed with the occurrence of the COVID-19 pandemic. In fact, in her article “Green thumbs take over: Plant popularity brings awareness to benefits of greenery,” Ema Sasic includes various opinions of plant distributors on the subject, including Amanda Klawitter who is a House of Flowers co-owner, and Jami Graham who is the owner of White Oaks Florist on Rosedale Highway who both have interesting positions on the subject.
To summarize, Klawitter believes that the reason people are beginning to take more interest in plants is because people are not only searching for new ways to care for themselves, but also looking for ways to care for other living things which in turn helps them care for themselves. Whereas, Graham believes that people are taking more interest in plants because they “add life” to people’s living spaces, and more people are staying at home more than ever before.
That being said, there are many benefits to owning plants, and here are ten benefits of gardening, as first shared and stated by Healthline:
- It can help your body fight disease.
If you garden outside, or raise plants in a way that regularly exposes you to sunlight, it will increase your vitamin D intake which is one of the most essential vitamins out there, responsible for literally hundreds of bodily functions. As Healthline shares “[Researchers] estimate that a half hour in the sun can produce between 8,000 and 50,000 international units (IU) of vitamin D in your body, depending on how much your clothes cover and the color of your skin.”
- Builds strength, promotes sleep, and helps you maintain a healthy body weight.
Gardening, if you partake in many of the maintenance activities such as raking, digging, weed pulling, etc., exercises every major muscle in the body.
- It can help protect your memory.
Though there is some debate whether gardening on its own can improve cognitive functions such as memory, there has been some promising research results on the subject.
- It boosts your mood.
Researchers have found that gardening improves your mood, and self-esteem, as well as decreases anxiety and depression levels.
- It can calm your stress.
In a recent study, scientists have asked two groups of stressed people to partake in reading and gardening as coping activities, and each group had their cortisol levels tested when the trial was complete. At the end, the gardening group was found to have had the most improvement regarding their stress levels.
- It is effective in helping people recover from addiction.
Gardening has been a popular therapy exercise for years, especially for those who experience addiction since it promotes positive feelings.
- Family and community gardens foster feelings of connection.
Group gardening obviously encourages frequent, and positive interaction among all those that participate.
- It gives you a sense of agency and empowerment.
Historically, gardening has been a way to resist injustice, and claim space, and in many ways, this is still a relevant function of gardening.
- It can help you manage ecoanxiety.
Gardening is often seen as a way to help fight the negative effects of climate change, and give people a sense of accomplishment as we navigate this ongoing threat to our existence.
- You will need to take care of yourself when gardening.
Because there is so much that goes into gardening, in order to be successful in it, you must make yourself aware of how to care for them properly, which caring for yourself, including wearing protective gear, avoiding pesticides, wearing sunscreen, drinking lots of water, etc.
Now that you are more aware of the benefits of gardening, I hope that you consider partaking in this national trend, and find some enjoyment in it!
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