8 HEALTH BENEFITS OF
LIVING ON A FARM
Apart from being close to the land, the produce, and the animals, living on a farm offers more in terms of our health. Here are eight health benefits of living on a farm. 1. Healthier Immune System In General Living on a farm will result in a healthier immune system. How? Well, according to a study, growing up on a farm helps reduce the body’s immunological responses to food proteins. In layman’s term, it means those who grow up on a farm have reduced likelihood of developing an allergic disease. The study explains that when you live on a farm, you develop more regulatory T-lymphocytes. These are cells that pacify immune responses and limit inflammation. Allergies, inflammatory, and autoimmune diseases develop when these cells are reduced. 2. Specifically, Less Likely to Get Asthma and Allergies There are about 6.8 million children in the US who suffer from asthma. Of these, children raised on farms, specifically dairy farms, have lower rates of asthma and allergies. According to a study, this could be due to farm dust, which triggered an immune system response from the lungs of mice that protected them from allergies and asthma. A separate study also found that exposure to farm environments may prevent (or dampen) allergies and asthma, even in adults. 3. Better Mental Health In another study, Norwegian researchers had one group of participants with problems like anxiety, depression, schizophrenia, and personality disorders work with animals on a farm; the other group didn’t have any such interactions. The study found that those who had an interaction with farm animals had improved self-efficacy and coping skills compared to those who had not spent any time working with animals. The researchers believe this improvement in mental health may be due to having physical contact with another living being through activities like milking, feeding, and caring for farm animals (which may promote self-esteem and confidence). 10
VOLUME 6 | ISSUE 5 2020
HorseNRanchMag.com
4. Farm Work is Great for Physical Fitness Working on a farm will help you burn calories and develop those muscles. For example, for a 150-pound person, bailing hay for 30 minutes burns 277 calories and butchering a pig burns 170 calories, according to an issue of Food & Wine. 5. Fresh Produce Equals More Nutrients You know what they say, the nearer you get your food from its source, the better and more nutritious it is. Well, if you live on a farm, you can get your food fresh. 6. Early to Bed, Early to Rise When you live on a farm, you follow a routine. The schedule starts early and ends early as well. You’d need plenty of sleep to replenish the energy you lost during the day’s work. This early to bed, early to rise routine is more in tune with our natural Circadian rhythm. 7. Plenty of Vitamin D from the Sun Vitamin D, which we get primarily from the Sun, is important to our body. “To sum it all up, nearly every cell in the body needs vitamin D to function at full capacity,” says Dr. Robert Heaney, Professor of Medicine at Creighton University. Fortunately, when you live on a farm you get plenty of this. 8. Fresher Air If you live on a farm, you breathe fresher, cleaner air. This is due to having more plants absorb carbon dioxide. The open air of the countryside also helps relieve stress, quickens recovery of disease, and provides incentive to lose weight through outdoor exercise. www.articlecats.com
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