Following the usual festive indulgences now is the time that many people need to make New Year’s resolutions. One of the most common resolutions is to improve your levels of fitness and in doing so improve your health and wellbeing. What better way to achieve this than by venturing out into your garden and increase your contact with plants and greenery.

According to a report* by the Horticultural Trades Association’s (HTA) Plant forLife Campaign as little as 1-2 hours of gardening a day, along with other forms of moderate physical leisure activity, can help reduce stress levels, tone muscles, lower blood and cholesterol levels, reduce your risk of coronary heart disease, diabetes, and strokes and prevent other chronic diseases such as osteoporosis.

With the garden providing a far pleasanter environment than the gym to sweat off those pounds, there has never been a better time to dig over that bed or to tend to that neglected border. Just 30 minutes physical work in the garden can equate to significant calorie loss with

- Digging the garden burning 250 calories

- Mowing the lawn burning 195 calories

- Weeding burning 105 calories

- Raking burning 100 calories

However, plants and gardening do not just offer physical benefits as they have a huge impact on our emotional and mental wellbeing also. Research has shown that 20 minutes spent in green settings such as parks and gardens reduces the symptoms of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), compared to time spent in concrete recreation areas. Even views of greenery through a window have a positive impact on the symptoms.

Offices and factories having a green view out of the window has been found to buffer the effects of work related stress and on a person’s intention to leave their job. There is mounting evidence to show that hospital patients who can view greenery through their window are likely to recover more quickly and that they experience less post-operative pain. The amount of greenery also influences crime levels – apartment buildings surrounded by trees and greenery are dramatically safer than buildings without greenery. The greener the surroundings the fewer crimes are committed against people and property.

Regular contact with nature may be as important to our psychological and social health as the regular consumption of fruit and vegetables is to our physical health. With that in mind the HTA is recommending that people spend at least 20 minutes a day (or 2.5 hours a week) gardening, tending to plants or simply enjoying green space.

Jennifer Thwaites, HTA’s Plant forLife Manager said, “Plants and gardening have a dramatic impact on our wellbeing. Not only does a modest amount of gardening help in terms of our physical fitness but contact with plants is of huge importance to our mental and emotional well being also.”