When my friend announced she had had an excellent afternoon in the garden the other day, it got me wondering if it was the work she had accomplished, the time spent outside or perhaps a combination of the two.
When dentist Weston Price studied various populations to see how their diets affected their teeth in 1939 he was surprised to learn that there were certain places where local people had excellent teeth regardless of their disparate diets, although these diets didn’t include processed food and were based on whatever they could grow or catch. In 2004, explorer and journalist Dan Buettner continued to study regions in the world where populations had above average longevity, finding that there were five areas in particular where it was not unusual for people to live longer, healthier lives untroubled by disease. He called these areas “Blue Zones.” It is noteworthy that as well as the exclusion of processed food from their diets all these groups “lived outside.”
I think their extended lifespan is not just attributed to the eschewing of processed food or being outside, but also to working outdoors. Good diet and regular exercise are well known contributors to health, but surely the addition of regular exposure to sunshine and clean air magnify the benefits.
David bought a hammock years ago, but we have yet to hang it up to lie on because when it’s nice outside, we garden. Perhaps the great feeling we get from gardening indicates that we’re maintaining our health. I’ve read that exercising outside increases happiness, and suspect that happiness comes from the feeling one gets because the body appreciates healthy activity.
The combination of digging in the soil, working in the garden and eating the delicious food we grow for ourselves must be good for us. If a commonality among the five “Blue Zones” is that they live outside and don’t eat processed food, gardening fills the bill. I have a neighbour who began walking outside a couple of years ago for his health and he felt so good after the first few sessions that he continues to walk every day. I suspect he wouldn’t feel so exhilarated if he had just sat in a lawn chair outside, and maybe that’s because it’s the combination of physical activity and fresh air that produces the good health and feeling.
I always feel accomplished after time spent in the garden, and maybe that’s because experiencing physical activity in the fresh air heals the body. Now I must go and prepare the pea beds before it starts raining again.
Please contact mary_lowther@yahoo.ca with questions and suggestions since I need all the help I can get.
