Effects of gardening on the physical and mental health of older adults during the closure of Covid-19

reference

Corley J., Okely yes, Taylor am, et al. Home garden use during Covid-19: Associations with physical and mental well-being in older adults. J Environ Psychol . 2021; 73: 101545.

Study goal

Determination of the physical and mental/emotional effects of gardening on older adults during the closure of Covid-19 in 2020

participant

In the study, 171 older participants (all 1936, 53 % male) took part in the current Lothian Birth Cohort 1936 study in Scotland, united Kingdom.

draft

cross -sectional cohort of a running longitudinal study

Intervention

The researchers sent the participants a letter in which they were asked to fill out an online survey with 145 points at home. In this survey, the frequency of gardening and various health measures was asked both before the beginning of the British Covid 19 lock (March 2020) and currently two months later (May/June 2020).

The researchers carried out all data analyzes as ordinary regressions, adjusted the gender of the participants, the size of the household, the level of education, the professional social class, the symptoms of fear and depression, the body mass index (BMI) and the history of cardiovascular diseases and diabetes.

target parameter

The online survey contained demographic and covid consciousness information as well as 5-point questions from the likert type to garden activities and freight before and after closure, physical health, emotional and mental health, sleep quality and fear of covid-19. The researchers evaluated an additional composite health value as amalgam of the other health values.

important knowledge

After the researchers had adapted all covariates, they found that participants who had garden use more frequently in the 2 months after the blocking of Covid-19 were significantly better than those who did not gardening, including:

• Self -assessment of physical health (0.74, 95 % KI 0.23–1.25, p <0.005)
• emotional and mental health (0.58, 95 % KI 0.02–1.13, p = 0.04)
• sleep quality (0.58, 95 % KI 0.07–1.09, p = 0.03)
• composed healthcore (0.79, 95%ki 0.32–1.25, p = 0.001)

The researchers did not find significant results in any of the health measures in relation to the change perceived by the participants before and after the lockdown.

practice implications

Global Covid-19 pandemic has led to massive public health disorders, including physical and mental health. In addition to virus infections that cause high hospitalization and mortality rates, social lockdowns have the typical skills of individuals and communities to work, make contacts and participate in many activities. The resulting reduction in health behavior such as physical activity and social interaction has a negative effect on many aspects of physical health as well as mental health, such as depression, anxiety and insomnia. Non-Covid times at the same time are exposed to a higher risk of consequences of both a covid-19 infection as well as several physical and intellectual diseases.

The development of urban parks was partly responded to pandemics of infectious diseases such as cholera and polio, which often occurred in the late 19th century.

A way to counteract these health impairments is to spend more time in nature. The numerous health benefits of contact with green spaces outdoors have been reported and well known. In fact, the development of urban parks was partly responded to pandemics of infectious diseases such as cholera and polio, which often occurred in the late 19th century. ⁶ The provision of areas in which people were physically active and a lot of fresh air and sunlight were allowed, while the unsanitary conditions of urban life were avoided, an urban response to an urban response Public health. 8 Access to green areas was also proposed as a way to maintain health during the current pandemic. In fact, in the early stages of pandemic there was an increase in people worldwide who spent more time outdoors, in a precise contrast to the efforts of many municipalities to limit the time in parks and other green areas.

There are many ways to approach nature. Gardening in particular is a simple and effective way to experience all health benefits of nature. Spending time with gardening, people offer people the opportunity to increase their physical activity, breathe fresh air, absorb sunlight and increase vitamin D and to have a local source for inexpensive, high -quality diet. It also lets people relax and reduce stress, calm down their minds, distract themselves from other matters of life and increase their self -esteem and feeling of self -efficiency, while they are combined with family and cultural roots and activities. And the ditch in the ground brings many useful microbes into contact that modulate the healthy function of the digestive, immune and nervous system.

Several studies have confirmed the diverse advantages of gardening, including the reduction of blood pressure and cortisol in saliva as well as improvements in depression, anxiety, quality of life and subjective well-being. ^{9–11 The study checked here suggests that these older people and other population groups that negatively affect the COVID-19 pandemy are, could benefit directly.}

restrictions

As a cross-sectional study, this survey was unable to examine longitudinal cause-effect relationships. It may be that positive results reflect the interest and/or the ability of healthier participants, to work more often in the garden, and not vice versa. There is evidence that indicate that both are correct, so further examinations are justified.

As a survey, several restrictions must be taken into account. The self -report method of the survey only provides subjective response data, which is naturally susceptible to distortions and souvenir errors. The request to the participants to compare their health changes before and after the Covid Lockdown is not as meaningful as the analysis of data that was collected both before and after the lockdown. Such a longitudinal approach might have delivered more convincing data to changes in the state of health from the survey.

The format of the survey was also restrictive. An online survey with 145 points filled out by 84-year-old participants is a suboptimal method of data collection. It is likely that technological restrictions on internet access and the length of the survey otherwise have held legitimate persons from participation.

FAZIT

COVID-19 pandemic has affected physical and mental health worldwide, especially in endangered population groups like older people. This is the result of direct effects of the virus and the systemic effects of the social lockdown, which indirectly restricts many of the lifestyle and environmental factors influencing health. Gardening can be a practical method to overcome some of these baked barriers and to support and restore the possibility of improving the physical and mental health and well -being of the individual.