Health Matters With TSET: Gardening for mental health

Experts say getting outside can do wonders for your mental health, and one way to help you commit to more outdoor time, is to start a garden.

In today's Health Matters with TSET, Amy Slanchik explains the benefits.

Connecting with nature can begin in your own backyard.

"When I'm gardening, everything else kind of melts away,” Rebekah Stephenson said.

Being in the fresh air, taking time to notice little critters, and putting energy into helping something grow can all help you be present.

Stephenson is a Washington County Certified Master Gardener and says it's hard to be stressed in an environment like her garden. 

"When you're gardening and you're in the moment, everything that happened that was stressful, or maybe even things in the past that have been bothering you, it kind of just doesn't matter,” she said. “All that matters is like the sound of the birds, the wind, the soil, looking at your plants."

"One of the therapeutic techniques that we teach lots of people is grounding, such as… noticing your smells and your touches and things like that, and when we do that, we're actually being present in our current moment, which helps calm our mind down,” Dr. Matthew Sharp said. He is a Child and Adolescent Psychiatrist at Parkside Psychiatric Hospital and Clinic in Tulsa.

He encourages people to spend more time outside.

"When your skin is exposed to sunlight, it generates Vitamin D, and low Vitamin D is a known cause of major depression,” Dr. Sharp said.

Stephenson points to research that says microbes found in soil can boost your serotonin levels, which improves your mood.

"When you get your hands in really healthy soil, it releases those chemicals in your brain that help fight things like mild depression and anxiety,” she said.

But if getting your hands dirty isn't for you, Dr. Sharp says committing to other activities can also have a positive impact on our mental well-being.

"It's just identifying the hobbies that you like and bring you joy and get you to be more present with those and be doing those more actively, to fill your days more with things that make you happy,” he said.

In the UK, doctors sometimes prescribe gardening to their patients to help them with their mental health. It even has a name; it's called "green social prescribing," and sometimes involves community gardens.

For more on the benefits of being outdoors and 10 ideas for outdoor activities, visit Shape Your Future, a program of TSET.