Health benefits of gardening

THE HEALTH BENEFITS OF GARDENING

There is growing awareness of the ways that gardening and green spaces can improve physical and mental health. Getting active by gardening is a healthy hobby which helps us to adopt a better lifestyle, lowers our body mass indexes and connects us with nature.

Also it’s been proven to generate a sense of fulfilment that can boost social well-being, reduce isolation and help in mental health recovery.

Natural Health Service

We all know the NHS is currently under strain and with people now living longer will continue to put pressure on the government’s healthcare budgets. However mental health and social anxiety is also high on the agenda with a Mind Charity study published revealing that over 1 million antidepressants are issued weekly in England.

Doctors are starting to prescribe gardening and horticultural therapy to its patients as it has been proven to improve mental wellbeing and physical health and the role it can play as the ‘Natural Health Service.’

Physical Health

A survey commissioned by RHS, has revealed that 80% of us gardeners say gardening as a physical activity helps to keep them fit and maintain a healthy lifestyle. It Just takes 1-2 hours of gardening a day to reduce stress hormone levels, lower blood and cholesterol levels, reduce your risk of coronary heart disease, diabetes and strokes, and prevent other chronic diseases such as osteoporosis. Mowing the lawn was cited as one of the top three activities to give the best fitness workout, burning up 250 calories in an hour, whilst digging or raking plant borders and vegetable gardens for 30 minutes requires as much energy as a 2km run.

A good natural landscape has been shown to improve your overall mood, reduce anxiety, boosts the immune system and lessens social isolation, as well as strengthening bonds in community gardens. A recent study online by YouGov for the HTA revealed that 87% of British adults believe gardens and green spaces benefit their state of mind.

it is proven that 1 in 4 people in the England will experience mental health problems in their lifetime. Numerous studies have revealed that fresh air and the exercise that gardening brings boosts mood and offsets stresses of everyday life, releasing serotonin and endorphins making people feel good. Did you the nurturing and caring aspect of gardening and looking after plants is important as it gives hope and a sense of achievement, boosting self esteem. Not to worry even if you don’t have a large gardening space, just 20 minutes spent in parks and gardens can reduce the symptoms of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, compared to time spent in urban concrete areas.

Having a green area in the workplace for breaks and having plants around office buildings can make people more productive and has been proven to reduce employee annual sick leave by 23%. Hospitalisation recovery rates are also improved where planting is visible Houseplants bring many benefits to our lives and also tap into the increasingly important ‘wellness’ trend that surrounds us.

Houseplants work to purify and clean the air that we breath, remove toxins and other chemical nasties around the home. NASA conducted a study in 1989, evaluating the ability of leaves to filter 87% of toxins in the air such as benzene and formaldehyde, used in some detergents and other household materials and various allergens.

Plants such as aloe vera, peace lilies, ivy, ferns, dracaena and sansevieria improve the quality of the air we breathe, whilst absorbing carbon dioxide and create oxygen indoors.

With the places we live in massively evolving over the past two years becoming a place to both live and work from, people are growing increasingly mindful of their wellbeing and bringing the outdoors in. What’s more, these houseplants don’t need a green-thumb either with plenty of them only needing minimal care too.

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Could you make a difference and help shape the lives of the young people in your area? We trust our people and they’re empowered to make decisions. You’ll have the chance to build new skills, gain unrivalled experience and you’ll be valued for what you bring.

In this unique role you will have the chance to motivate and support other Cadet Leaders and our volunteer Police Cadets to learn the skills and train under the guidance of our police officers. Our cadets have FUN whilst learning skills… they are a diverse mix of 13-17 year olds, each with lots of enthusiasm and excitement for our organisation and its values.

As a Unit Leader you will become the person that ensures all duties and responsibilities required to run a unit successfully are completed by your team of Cadet Leaders. You will make sure that sessions are planned and delivered on a regular basis and oversee the content that gives our cadets a fantastic experience.

We do not expect you to undertake all the tasks yourself but you will be comfortable with delegating to your volunteer team and checking that tasks have been completed. This is in addition to inspiring, leading and motivating cadets to support their local community.....

You will be:

A mentor

A coach

A leader

An influencer

We do not need you to have policing experience, our existing leaders come from a wide range of backgrounds, and they each bring key elements of their day to day lives into the role.

We ask you to volunteer your own time to lead an inspirational team. Each group provides an environment for young people where they can learn about roles within policing, support their community and develop valuable life skills such as communication and problem solving. You will be the person that ensures high standards in your group, this includes things such as uniform checks and drill practices. You will need to be comfortable presenting in front of a group of circa 30 cadets and being the person that engages and leads this group We will want you to be responsible for ensuring that the activities of your group are fun and engaging and align with our volunteering strategic objectives. As Unit Leader of your team you will support planning and delivery of an exciting, interesting and balanced programme to give the cadets the opportunity to have fun and learn new skills while taking part in many different types of activities, events and camps to broaden the cadet’s knowledge of policing and the local community. These activities often take place at weekends.

Through these groups our Cadet Leaders have a tangible and positive impact on the lives of our young people, our volunteers and our local communities.

We are currently recruiting for a Unit Leader for our BANES unit, which meets on Tuesday evenings in the Odd Down area of Bath. Our units resumed in person activity in November 2021 and in January of this year the BANES unit welcomed new Cadets. It’s a busy unit with plenty of enthusiastic young people and Leaders who are looking forward to developing their skills.

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