Gardening for better sleep
The more time we spend gardening, the lower our risk of sleep disorders.
Digging, planting, weeding, mowing, watering, fertilising, harvesting - gardening is extremely versatile and can be very fulfilling. But does it also help you sleep better? This question was investigated by a research team from the USA and China. The fact that gardening is good for our psyche has been known since a meta-analysis in 2017, but the effect on sleep has only been considered in smaller studies.
The current analysis included data from around 62,000 adults in the USA, which was collected in 2017 as part of a nationwide annual representative health survey. Among other things, the respondents indicated how well they slept at night. Did they have trouble falling asleep in the evening, did they wake up frequently during the night? Did they sleep less than seven hours? Did they suffer from breathing interruptions? They also provided information about physical activities, including gardening.
Six per cent of respondents counted gardening among their most frequent physical activities. 67 per cent were mainly active in other ways, such as playing a particular sport, and the rest said they were not very physically active. Compared to the inactive, the likelihood of sleep problems was 42 per cent lower among those who gardened frequently and 33 per cent lower among the other physically active people - regardless of age, gender, education level and obesity. The differences were also evident in the duration of sleep. The garden workers got an average of 7.14 hours per night, which was 10 to 15 minutes more than the other two groups. A dose-response relationship was also evident: the more time the respondents spent gardening, the lower their risk of sleeping poorly.
Compared to other physical activities, gardening makes particularly varied physical and mental demands, explain the study authors. It is already known that exercise improves sleep, and both the daylight during outdoor activities and the relaxing effect of nature could also contribute to this. However, conversely, it is also conceivable that well-rested people are more capable and motivated to do gardening work. Further studies are therefore needed to prove a cause-and-effect relationship.
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Original article on Spektrum.de
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