Good news: Gardening benefits the health of the elderly
Last updated 12/01/2009 08:12:28
Good news Gardening benefits health of elderly
Gardening helps older men and women reap more than flowers, fruits, and vegetables - it benefits them physically as well, researchers report.
In a small study, 14 gardeners between 63 and 86 years old reported an average of 33 hours of gardening during a typical week in May, and 15 hours each week during June and July.
This level of gardening activity, offers physical health benefits, Dr. Candice Shoemaker, of Kansas State University, told Reuters Health.
On most days, the gardeners met the recommended 30 minutes of moderate physical activity.
The investigators collected gardeners' tallies of time spent working in home and community gardens. To determine gardeners' physical activity levels, the investigators also measured the subjects' heart and breathing rates during these observations.
Overall, most gardeners performed moderate-intensity physical activity such as digging, transplanting, turning compost, mulching, and raking during the 1-hour observation periods in June and July.
During late spring, in May, most gardeners reported spending considerable amounts of time each day on outdoor tasks: about an hour weeding or cultivating, another hour watering, and nearly an hour and a half on general gardening tasks, as well as some 15 minutes planting seedlings or shrubs, and more than 20 minutes trimming.
Source: www.reuters.com