Weed out aerobics accessories, pull on gardening gloves

When the late Sarla Bhargava, founder member of the Kitchen Gardens Association of India started this unique organization, she just wanted to grow a healthy plateful. “But early on in her 40 years of association (with it), she came to the conclusion that gardening—the thrill of growing beauty and the taste of fresh produce—translates into tangible happiness. And this she equated to health,” says her daughter Pratima Jhingan, who is based in Delhi and is also an active gardener. Bhargava’s view is now endorsed by health experts, who advocate gardening because there is nothing healthier than working up a good sweat in the dirt.

Gardening provides the regular physical exercise required for prevention of heart disease, obesity, diabetes and high blood pressure. It is an effective workout for arthritis sufferers as it works the back, shoulders, arms, fingers and legs.

Get a better workout

Green Gym, a UK-based movement, encourages people to keep fit by working outdoors even as they improve their local environment. When researchers from Green Gym tested a 40-year-old woman, they found that she burnt 30% more calories (392kcal in all) working outdoors than she did in a step aerobics class.

Both activities lasted 1 hour, but the time she spent in her training heart rate zone (this elevated heart rate from exercise improves cardio fitness) was nearly double while gardening—44 minutes versus 24.

Make bones strong

One new study says gardening can give you the biggest bang for your exercise buck in preventing osteoporosis.

Pushing a lawnmower, raking leaves, and lifting a wheelbarrow full of weeds are great weight-bearing exercises. Researchers at the University of Arkansas-Fayetteville, US, found that women 50 years and older who were active in their gardens had higher bone density readings than those who swam, did aerobics, danced or jogged. And it works across gender, it seems.

Satish Mathur, 68, former director of the horticulture department at Rashtrapati Bhavan, Delhi, says he owes his good health to time in the garden. “I have been hands-on in the garden for the last 49 years and I believe that my joints are healthy today only because of all that bending, cleaning, picking up,” he says. “Tilling, planting, weeding—all get your heart pumping. Today all that hard work is paying up as I stay fit as a fiddle.”