Gardening for seniors can be a relaxing and healthy pastime. It is a way to provide some outdoor activity in the sun, and an important way to work with nature.
Gardening is one of my all-time favorite activities. I spent this last weekend with my children out in the yard tilling the soil to lay out my seeds, and planting my vegetables for the year. I worked at a landscaping company every summer from the time I turned 16 until I graduated from college 7 years later.
Being outside in the fresh Colorado air was fantastic for my spirit and witnessing the beauty that my hard labor had created was always a pure joy for me. I would highly recommend gardening to anyone who still has the ability and the inclination to do it.
Gardening for seniors offers many therapeutic benefits for the elderly. It becomes one of the best activities for seniors, because they can enjoy fresh air, they’re doing something very productive, and they are getting exercise to improve their health. Let’s also not forget that they are planting and harvesting fresh vegetables and fruit that they can eat, and cultivating beautiful flowers that they can admire.
Major Benefits of Gardening for Seniors
The benefits of gardening for seniors are many. Here is a short list of benefits:
Mentally Challenging – Gardening can help seniors use their minds by presenting different tasks and challenges. Gardening requires close attention to detail. They need to concentrate on planting, pruning, watering and harvesting. Anything that they plant requires them to follow up on their actions. All of these tasks help keep the mind active.
Develops Strength and Endurance – Gardening for seniors requires some bending, lifting, and walking around. It develops leg, arm, shoulder and back strength. If they have a big garden, it might require them to walk more, which could help increase their endurance, and strengthen their cardiovascular system.
Delays Osteoporosis – Gardening for seniors works on strengthening bones, which is great for preventing or delaying osteoporosis. Osteoporosis occurs more with seniors, especially women.
Reduces Stress – Gardening helps alleviate stress in seniors. It is a hobby that helps them forget about everything else, and allows them to concentrate on the tasks at hand. When they reduce stress, they can also lower their blood pressure.
Social Interaction – Like other rewarding activities for seniors, gardening gives them the chance to work and communicate with others. They can garden with friends, family, or they can join a gardening club and interact and make new friends. Communicating with others is great for the mental health of seniors and makes their lives more rewarding and enjoyable.
Ways to Make Gardening for Seniors Safe
Activities for seniors should not only be fun, but they also need to be safe. Here are some tips to keep gardening for seniors safe:
- Always make sure that seniors have a clean bill of health before they participate in regular gardening. Talk to their doctor, and let them know they want to do some gardening, and ask if they are healthy enough to do it.
- Seniors need to stay hydrated, so make sure they drink lots of water while they are gardening. When it is hot, the body sweats more and loses more water. If seniors are feeling very thirsty, they are probably already dehydrated. Make it a point for them to drink some water regularly, even if they don’t feel that thirsty when it is hot, just so they can replace lost fluids. Also make sure and use sunscreen to protect the elderly from the suns harmful rays.
- Try using raised bed gardens, because they eliminate the need to always bend over too much, which stops putting too much pressure on seniors backs. Gardening is fun, so they might as well have the benefit of making it safe and healthy, too.
- Always keep their paths clear of any debris and make certain they have fairly even ground. Accidents are a big problem when seniors trip over objects in their path. Make sure you keep them clean.
- Before seniors start gardening for the day, they should do some warm up exercises. Look at gardening as a physical activity, because it is. Injuries occur with seniors, because they don’t loosen up their muscles before starting, and they don’t keep them warm when they take a lot of breaks. Warm muscles equal loose and flexible muscles.
Gardening for Seniors – Conclusion
If you are like me, gardening can become a lifelong hobby and passion that has great rewards for the hard work that is invested. Gardening for seniors is another way to keep their bodies fit and their minds active. When it is practiced safely, it makes a nice hobby, and it is something they can do for many years. Outdoor activities for seniors are a way to keep them happy, and hopefully will help them live a longer, fulfilling life.
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