Gardening is a great way to exercise your body and mind, so how can this help you to cope with your cancer diagnosis? Here’s how…
Cancer affects approximately 39.5 percent of people at some point in their lifetime, and there are hundreds of coping mechanisms to try. The thing is, it’s not just about your physical health – which is, of course, very important. It’s also about how you can mentally cope with the diagnosis, and what comes with it.
Not only do cancer sufferers have to deal with the emotional trauma of their diagnosis, they may need go forward with medical negligence or mesothelioma compensation claims. Then, on top of this, the ongoing treatments will be sure to take their emotional and physical toll.
One at-home treatment that shows some promise for the mental and physical health of cancer sufferers is gardening. This is because it helps cancer sufferers relax, stay fit and eat more healthily, and this post will be exploring this link further.
Why Gardening is Helpful for People with Cancer
According to experts in the field of cancer treatment, gardening can help patients deal with their diagnosis and maintain their health. The reasons for this are:
- An increase in physical activity
- The calming effect of spending more time outdoors
- Improvement in dietary quality due to eating freshly grown produce
- Shared connection with others facing a similar diagnosis
We’re going to expand on each of these reasons in more detail, and explain exactly how they help people who’ve been diagnosed with cancer.
1. Gardening for Physical Fitness
There are lots of studies that show how an increase in physical activity can help patients who’ve been diagnosed with cancer. Dr William Bird, an advisor to Public Health England on physical activity, has said that the NHS should recognise the power of the great outdoors as a treatment for disease by introducing community gardening schemes.
Gardening might not seem that physically demanding but, with all the carrying, moving around, and use of tools, it can actually be quite a good workout. Gardening over a long period of time can help you regain strength energy and stamina.
Especially when it comes to lung cancers, like mesothelioma, rigorous exercise is unlikely to be possible. Also, the media age of someone with cancer is 66 years, and many of those people aren’t up for running a marathon or going to the gym every day to lift weights. This could be the perfect in-between activity.
2. Gardening to Relax
When it comes to mesothelioma, and other types of cancer diagnoses, a positive outlook can help more than you think.
To quote Dr Bird again: “A dose of green space, really connecting people back to nature, can make a huge difference. Blood pressure reduces, muscle tension reduces, all of these happen within moments of going into a park or a garden. Even indoor plants have been shown to have a beneficial effect on mental health.”
When it comes to patients suffering from cancer, such as mesothelioma, some GPs already prescribe gardening for patients. It’s becoming a better known treatment for more brain related issues too, such as dementia.
Perri Chaplin, a woman who was diagnosed with breast cancer at age 32, said that gardening has done wonders for her mental wellbeing. She is a clear example of how gardening can have a beneficial effect on life when you’re dealing with a diagnosis that could potentially kill you.
This is an outlook Perri has in common with other patients who have reported experiences of appreciating the beauty, peace, and tranquillity of nature and its positive effect on their attitude towards their diagnosis.
3. Gardening as Medicine
Lots of different medicines are derived from plants that you can grow in your garden. In some cases, the plants are prescribed over the actual medicine, because the synthesised version doesn’t include all the properties contained within the plant itself.
In her book, The Cancer Survivor’s Garden Companion, Jenny Peterson writes about the vegetables, fruits and herbs that can give people the strength they need to get through their cancer treatment.
Greens like spinach, kale, swiss chard, collards and beet greens are very easy to grow in a home garden. They can be made into a smoothie that Jenny touts as a healthy way to keep calories and nutrients down when a patient’s system is in revolt.
Obviously, these greens can be bought in a supermarket. That said, if you’re already out gardening to get physically fit and foster a positive mental attitude, you might as well grow them yourself and blend them into a smoothie whilst they’re as fresh as they can be.
4. Gardening for a Sense of Community
Gardening with other people who have a mesothelioma, or other cancer diagnoses, can really help you connect with others who are going through a similar experience to you. Community gardening is also useful for people who don’t have their own garden to work on, or are unable to maintain their home gardens due to post-treatment fatigue.
If you’re interested in doing this, you can join the National Garden Scheme. This has access to over 3,500 exceptional private gardens across England and Wales, so you can become part of one of their community gardening projects.
Those of you who don’t have a green bone in their body will probably find this approach useful, even if you do have a garden to work in and are physically able to do so.
Will Gardening Help with Your Cancer Diagnosis?
In this post, we’ve done our best to list the top 4 things that gardening can do for you if you’ve received a cancer diagnosis.
From it helping you to stay physically active, to facilitating a connection between you and other people in your community, gardening is one of the better ways to help you through this tough time.
If those aren’t reason enough for you, remember that it’s actually a lot of fun once you get started. It’s a great excuse to put you back in touch with the nature from whence we all came.
You may remember me writing about losing my dad to cancer 3 years ago now. He was a farmer and a fantastic gardener. Growing vegetables was his thing. It helped him immensely.
*This is a collaborative post