Wait – Why are Doctors Prescribing Gardening??
Yes, you heard me right. Doctors are increasingly prescribing gardening as a therapy.
But of course “gardening treatment” is neither new nor unheard of. In fact, there are several official names for this – social and therapeutic horticulture, for example. Or simply horticulture therapy. Let’s go with HT for today.
And there are even official organizations promoting the practice. In Canada, we have the Canadian Horticultural Therapy Association. In the USA the American Horticultural Therapy Association. Look it up – I bet there’s one in your country.
So what is HT prescribed for? It’s actually prescribed for a wide range of conditions, but it’s really for general health. A lot of people find it helps a lot with depression. There are a lot of reasons why HT could be beneficial for a migraine or headache patient – everything from the light exercise to the probiotics in the soil to the oxygen in the air.
You might want to check out what Kelly, a migraine patient, has to say about her experience with gardening, in her recent article How Plants Became Part of My Therapy. She gives a brief, real-life picture of how something simple has made a difference in her life.
Everything from house plants to a full garden can be therapy. You might want to go to a greenhouse near you and ask what plants would be best for your environment. For example, my house gets hardly any sun. So I asked about that and – well, ok, they told me that plants need sun. 🙂 But we have had some small success here and there. 😀
You can even grow plants to eat – additional health benefits. Or to smell – lavender is a traditional headache therapy. Or to look at. But there’s more to it than that.
You may wonder how something so simple could have such a powerful affect on your life. Well – try it. You may be surprised. And it doesn’t cost a fortune to get started.
If you don’t believe me that this is becoming a real “thing”, here are some articles to get you started:
- Gardening becomes healing with horticultural therapy (CNN)
- Why gardening therapy is being prescribed by doctors (netdoctor)
- Flower Power (Nazareth College)
- 7 Science-Backed Health Benefits of Having Plants at Home (EcoWatch)