Mind, Body, & Soil
Written by: A. Kong
Edited by: K. Roberson
According to Mental Health America, nearly 50 million Americans are experiencing mental illness as of 2022. The number of youths experiencing major depressive episodes has increased by 306,000 from last year's dataset ("Youth Ranking 2022"). Current Research shows that direct contact of soil on skin from gardening and farming could make you happier.
Four Reasons to Garden for Mental Health
#1 Gardening is an effective and affordable health promotion strategy (Lampert et al., 2021)
Gardening is a great way to get outside and to get your heart rate up. It is a means of daily exercise. It can take any shape or form and can be a pretty affordable activity to engage in or do with others.
#2 Gardening increases confidence and social interactions (Farrier et al., 2019)
Engaging in gardening can bring added value to one's life. It can help one build new skills and that can translate to confidence. It can provide a sense of food security as well. It can be communal activity and a way to bond with others.
#3 Gardening can decrease stress hormone levels and resting heart rate (Jang et al., 2019)
Gardening can improve mental health by decreasing stress hormones and releasing diverse physiological responses that comes with the physical activity of horticulture (Jang et al., 2019). Gardening can be a method to practice grounding and a form of meditation.
#4 Soil contains bacteria with antidepressant effects (Smith et al., 2019)
One example of a type of bacteria from in soil is Mycobacterium vaccae. This environmental bacterium has anti-inflammatory, immunoregulatory, and stress resilience properties (Smith et al., 2019). Studies conducted with this bacterium have shown that it can prevent stress-induced anxiety-like defensive behavioral responses (Smith et al., 2019).
There are many studies that have shown the positive effects gardening can have on mental health. There is supporting evidence in current research and there is plenty of room for more discoveries on how gardening can improve mental health. Be on the lookout for more evidence-based research on gardening and mental health!
Sources
“Youth Ranking 2022.” Mental Health America, 2022, mhanational.org/issues/2022/mental-health-america-youth-data#:~:text=The%20number%20of%20youth%20experiencing%20MDE%20increased%20by. Accessed 29 Sept. 2022.
Lampert, T., Costa, J., Santos, O., Sousa, J., Ribeiro, T., & Freire, E. (2021). Evidence on the contribution of community gardens to promote physical and mental health and well-being of non-institutionalized individuals: A systematic review. PLOS ONE, 16(8), 1–19. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0255621
Farrier, A., Baybutt, M., & Dooris, M. (2019). Mental health and wellbeing benefits from a Prisons Horticultural Programme. International Journal of Prisoner Health, 15(1), 91–104. https://doi.org/10.1108/ijph-11-2017-0055
Jang, E. J., Yun, S. Y., Choi, B. J., & Kim, Y. G. (2019). The horticultural activity of touching soil and the autonomic nervous stress response of patients with brain disease. Korean Journal of Horticultural Science & Technology, 37(1), 151–158. https://doi.org/10.12972/kjhst.20190014
Smith, D. G., Martinelli, R., Besra, G. S., Illarionov, P. A., Szatmari, I., Brazda, P., Allen, M. A., Xu, W., Wang, X., Nagy, L., Dowell, R. D., Rook, G. A., Rosa Brunet, L., & Lowry, C. A. (2019). Identification and characterization of a novel anti-inflammatory lipid isolated from mycobacterium vaccae, a soil-derived
bacterium with immunoregulatory and stress resilience properties. Psychopharmacology, 236(5), 1653–1670. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00213-019-05253-9
This week on the farm...
On the farm this week we packed boxes of produce to be delivered to local seniors through the Storehouse, a local food pantry and non-profit in Henderson County. These boxes contained fresh produce from the farm as well as recipes to go along with the produce created by our dietetic intern. On Thursday, the farm hosted a group of home-based kids through WNCsource. These kids got to run around the farm, make calendula salve to take home, and try some yummy apple treats from Coston Farms. We are thankful for our community's support to continue doing what we love!
