Personally, I’ve never been one for the gym, and the pinnacle of success in sport for me at school was defined by the rare occasions when I was not picked last for any team. No, for me, sport is strictly for watching. Nevertheless, through my medical school and junior doctor years, I realised the benefit
of physical exercise to keep me in shape and relatively fit, and happily I found it in the Lycra-free environment of the garden. So if, like me, you want to use gardening to maintain your physical fitness, just how does that work, how effective is it, and how big a difference could it make?
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Physical inactivity has a massive price tag for us all. With increasingly sedentary lifestyles, 38 per cent of the world’s population is now defined as overweight or obese, and this is forecast to rise to 51 per cent in ten years. Subsequently, we doctors are seeing greater risks of cardiovascular diseases (CVD), cancers and Type 2 diabetes mellitus. The current cost to the NHS alone in the UK of Type 2 diabetes is a breathtaking £12 billion every year.
As well as its relative ubiquitousness, the other beauty of gardening as an aid to physical fitness is that it can be tailored to the individual.
Move it on up
But one possible solution is close at hand: 87 per cent of the population has access to a garden or a green space of their own. Many people are waking up to this possible benefit, and seven million people in the UK started gardening during the first Covid lockdown.
A Medeconomics survey revealed that 40 per cent of us doctors enjoy gardening – that’s even more than play golf. And Census data shows that 42 per cent of UK residents of all ages garden as a hobby, spending on average two hours every week working on their garden.
Gardens could offer a readily accessible solution to many of the health problems we face as individuals, and allow the focus on preventative healthcare at a societal level that has been so badly lacking in recent years.
A key study in the Netherlands in 2012 compared allotment-holders with their non-gardening neighbours. Once all other possible factors had been adjusted for, the gardeners over 60 years of age had better health outcomes in every single measure, and every aspect of their health.
Likewise, a 2019 study on 150,000 gardeners across the whole USA showed they had better outcomes in terms of CVD health status, lower odds of diabetes, better mental and physical health status, greater fruit and veg intake, and altogether a significantly lower risk of ten-year mortality.
Feel the burn
Another study on people who joined a community garden in Utah showed that they were significantly less likely to be overweight. A combination of the calories burnt and healthier diets is likely to be responsible here. It’s been estimated by the Center for Disease Control in the USA that an hour of gardening can burn between 250 and 350 calories. This rises in more vigorous activities, and, to my delight, illustrates that three hours in the garden can be equivalent to one in the gym.
Gardens could offer a readily accessible solution to many of the health problems we face as individuals.
Regular gardening can also significantly improve mobility and flexibility. Gardening tasks often require bending, reaching, and stretching, which can improve balance and co-ordination. A study published by the American Society for Horticultural Science highlighted that gardening activities can improve the range of motion and decrease the stiffness in the joints, making it an excellent exercise for people with arthritis or mobility issues.
Avoiding falls
Gardening can also help with falls prevention. The UK health think-tank, The King’s Fund, reports that falls cost the NHS more than £2 billion annually, and much, much more when including the costs for social care as well. Gardening helps keep us mobile and balanced, because as we move around from task to task, we’re keeping our muscles and joints active, but also working out our proprioceptive (joint position sense) nerve endings that feed into the balance centres in the brain. In 2012, the US Health and Retirement Study showed that gardeners were more likely to pass gait and balance tests, and that they had a 30 per cent reduction in falls.
A note of warning though: any discussion around the benefits of gardening and health needs to bear in mind the nearly 13 per cent of the population who have no access to their own green space. This figure is doubled in inner cities, and almost doubled again in Black, Asian or minority ethnic city-dwellers.
If we’re really going to embrace this movement, as a society, it needs to be embedded as a theme in
all planning decisions. Whether they are for living or for work, the design of residential buildings and communities must incorporate the access that each and every one of us needs to gardens, allotments and community growing spaces.
Tailored fitness
As well as its relative ubiquitousness, the other beauty of gardening as an aid to physical fitness is that it can be tailored to the individual. For those with reduced levels of fitness or mobility, adjustments can be made that enable them to keep gardening. Raised beds, lightweight tools, ergonomically designed handles, or even a smaller plot or a balcony, are all ways that we can keep on gardening, irrespective of our circumstances and abilities.
So I can happily stay in my old jeans and woolly jumpers, steer clear of the Lycra, and keep gardening both for my physical fitness, as well as all its other benefits.
Richard Claxton is a GP, garden designer and founder of green- prescribing network Gardening4Health