Gardening Makes People Happier and Emotionally Stronger, a Study Suggests

2 years ago

1 out of 3 households has either a food garden or a flower garden. The popularity of having a personal garden is increasing day by day. It is not only good for the environment, but, according to a study, gardening can improve our emotional well-being and make us happier.

Bright Side is intrigued by the study and would like to share its details with our readers.

The study surveyed 370 people.

For research, data was collected from 370 people residing in the Minneapolis-St. Paul metropolitan area. They were asked to report their emotional well-being on a specially developed app called Daynamica after indulging in any of the 15 activities on the program.

People who engaged in home gardening were found to be happier.

Out of the 370, 118 people engaged in home gardening and reported a higher level of emotional well-being. For all of the 15 given activities, the emotional well-being of participants was measured for each activity type: average net effect, average happiness, average meaningfulness, and the frequency of experiencing peak positive emotions. The results showed that gardening made people as happy as biking, walking, or dining out.

Women reported a better emotional well-being due to gardening, compared to men.

It was also noted that the average happiness due to gardening was higher for women and gardeners with low incomes. People who had vegetable gardens instead of ornamental gardens were found to be comparatively happier.

Sunlight may also increase our serotonin level.

Other than making us happy and keeping our emotional well-being in check, daily gardening also helps in lowering the risk of dementia by 36%. Gardening decreases the issues caused by inadequate vitamin D too. Being in sunlight also releases feel-good hormones in our body, making us feel happy and calm.