Whether you are in town or in the countryside, in a garden, on a balcony or even indoors, gardening is an excellent way to practice physical activity while enjoying sunny days. Recommended for seniors, gardening, a source of well-being, allows you to understand nature, while mobilizing your motor and cognitive skills.
Gardening, benefits At any point of view
Sweet and stimulating, the activity of gardening is particularly suitable for the elderly. Maintaining your plants, your garden, acts, de facto, on physical health and improves resistance and endurance capacities: digging, squatting, hoeing, all actions that develop muscle tone and agility and stimulate activity motor. However, physical exercise is highly recommended for aging well. As a corollary, gardening can prevent certain pathologies (cardiovascular diseases, osteoporosis, etc.). To these physical benefits are also attributed many benefits on the morale of seniors. Often synonymous with calm and serenity, gardening helps reduce stress and anxiety. An ideal activity for recharging one’s batteries and sunbathing, it is also extremely rewarding when the garden begins to evolve thanks to the care and maintenance provided. What satisfaction to eat your own vegetables, to contemplate your flower garden and the work done! This develops in gardeners a sense of accomplishment and know-how that can be shared with family and neighbours. Thus, this activity promotes self-confidence while being an ideal remedy against depression.
Gardening also helps to stimulate the cognitive abilities of the elderly. The tasks are varied (planting, watering, weeding, etc.), intellectually stimulating and help to sharpen the senses. When the senior sows, plants, organizes the plantations, waters, selects his plants and his vegetables, he stimulates his memory and his ability to organize himself. The sight is mobilized by the colors of the flowerbeds, the touch by the work of the ground, the sense of smell, by the perfume of the flowers and the taste, of course, awakened by the tasting of the harvested products. Thus, even when the elderly person has a loss of autonomy, encouraging them to enjoy or practice an activity in the garden is recommended.
However, in order to avoid injuries or accidents, it is important to equip yourself and adopt good practices.
Some tips for gardening as a senior
Before embarking on the maintenance of your garden, several precautions should be taken, especially when you are old. Above all, it is essential to take into account your physical abilities and not go beyond your limits. No need to exhaust yourself. Real physical activity, gardening also requires preparation accordingly. It is therefore recommended to warm up and stretch before each gardening session, but also to hydrate well during the session. In spring and summer, it is essential to apply sun protection and wear a hat when an outdoor activity is planned. You should also avoid working during the hottest hours of the day and staying still for more than 20 minutes. Finding a comfortable position for gardening is also important to spare your back.
So that the activity is synonymous with pleasure and to limit the physical efforts, the spaces must be adapted according to the capacities of the people and the possibilities of the garden. The creation of raised planters avoiding having to bend down is an ideal solution for seniors. It even becomes possible to sit down to garden in complete comfort. For the most fragile, gardening should, as far as possible, be done on plots or shaded areas. Wearing suitable gloves and using light and ergonomic tools helps prevent injuries. Finally, it is preferable to plant, preferably, resistant and easy-to-maintain plants in order to preserve its strength.
Source : https://www.bonjoursenior.fr