Researchers discover that gardening is the answer to society’s ills

Hobby gardening solves everything. This is the conclusion ofa Princeton study published in the journal Landscape and Urban Planning. The study’s press release notes that gardening is “widely neglected by policy makers”. Well yes. Just like knitting and napping.

The study tracked the emotional well-being of 370 Minneapolis-St. Paul through communal activities like walking, busing, shopping, and dining out. The researchers found that a third of people garden at home for an average of 90 minutes a week. Surprising!

“It’s hard to know who’s gardening at home,” says first author Graham Ambrose, a research project specialist in Princeton University’s Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering. “A lot more people garden than we think.”

And oh how happy they are. Gardeners report high levels of happiness, among the top third of all activities. Gardeners also report high levels of accomplishment, especially for vegetable gardening! Low-income women and gardeners, who often struggle in life, report very high emotional well-being! And lone gardeners are just as happy as those gardening with friends!

“These results suggest that when choosing future wellbeing projects to fund, we should pay particular attention to gardening,” says Ambrose, who points out that gardening contributes to a livable city and environmental initiatives. quality food material. Why spend money on a recreation center when a little dirt and a trowel will do? Plant.

Source: www.fastcompany.com