Gardening improves health of elderly

A Kansas State University study found that gardening can benefit the health of the elderly just as much as other fitness regimes. The study followed 14 gardeners between the ages of 63 and 86 years of age and reported an average of 33 hours of gardening a week in May and 15 hours each week in June and July.

The study found gardening helps elderly people meet the recommended 30 minutes of moderate physical activity a day through the gardening process: weeding, cultivating, watering, trimming, etc.

The KSU group said they would like to perform another larger, multi-location study to assess the health benefits of gardening for older adults. They think the information could be useful for doctors in prescribing physical activity.

Via: OptimistWorld.com

posted by Caroline Zilk on 1/13/2009 12:07 am | COMMENTS (2)
Comments (2)

Many people have been saying that gardening has huge health benefits for the elderly. However, some older individuals may be frail and unable to bend and carry things. I would like to recommend a blog post that provides some tips of how to make gardening easier and more accessible to the impaired. This may be of interest. live-in-care.org/?p=47

posted by canadian52 on 3/18/2009 1:01 pm

Gardening does not only beautify the environment, it is also a good form of exercise. It's really applicable for the oldies. You might want to try out the Instinct Diet. We don't necessarily mean hunt down deer with your bare hands and go crazy, but the Instinct Diet is more of a psychological approach as much as a diet in and of itself. The book does feature recipes and menus, however. The book is the brain child of Dr. Susan Roberts, PhD, who spent 20 years researching the mental framework of eating and diet. She points out that hunger is normal, but because of the change in human society we have unprecedented availability of food. Short term loans would be put to good use getting the ^<a rev="vote for" title="Could Purchasing ‘Instinct Diet’ Save You Money?" href="http://personalmoneystore.com/moneyblog/2009/04/24/purchasing-instinct-diet-save-money/"^>Instinct Diet.

posted by AlexzanderR on 4/30/2009 3:24 am

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