Stress Free Gardening

While gardening is one of America's favorite leisure activities, many people may not recognize its great mental and physical health benefits. Psychiatrists and physical therapists both agree that gardening is an excellent way to relieve mental stress and get good exercise at the same time.

• Pace yourself, spread out difficult projects over time.
• Say “no” to projects that won’t fit into your time schedule, or that will compromise your physical and mental health.
• Delegate to others tasks that you dislike or that are to difficult .
• Try to let your worries go by doing some gardening. Gardeners typically become absorbed in their work, giving them rest from the normal worries and cares of the day.
• Vary your tasks. A full day of pruning will give any gardener blisters. Remember it’s not a race. Take your time, enjoy yourself, smell the roses.
• Do something for the kid in you everyday (i.e. pick some flowers , blow a dandelion blossom).
• Get organized so everything has its place.
• A mailbox can serve the same purpose as a plastic container to hold small hand tools in the garden. Mounted on a pole, this can be the right height for reaching from a wheelchair. There are some great decorative mailboxes on the market to add charm to the garden – or try decorating one yourself.
• You can buy a garden cart to carry long handled tools but a plastic garbage pail on wheels works just as well and is cheaper. The wheels are on the back so the can stays in one place when you park it. This means the tools are handy when you need them and they don’t fall over in the garden.
• Place stools, garden chairs or benches at strategic places in the garden so that you have many opportunities to rest as you garden.
• Install pathways wherever you routinely walk – for example, across the lawn to the mailbox, or from the back door to the compost.

[Home] [History & Facts] [Programs & Services] [Admissions] 
  [Events]  [Volunteers] [Contributions] [Photo Gallery] [Employment] 
[Facts about Mental Illness]  [News & Publications] [Contact Us]

 Copyright © 2000 Friends Hospital. All rights reserved.
Revised: July 27, 2005