Gardening and... the DOMS?

Although Lactic Acid build up is often to blame for pain post exercise, Delayed Onset of Muscle Soreness (DOMS) is that tight, sore feeling in your muscles and connective tissues you get a day (or a few days!) after a hard workout. It comes when training is particularly stressful on the connective tissues and muscles and causes micro-tears in the tissue. It is these tears that can lead to pain, soreness, stiffness and a decrease in range of motion 12-48hrs after exercise. Many of us will have suffered from DOMS after a workout but recently, I found myself unable to reach my toes due to DOMS in my hamstrings after… gardening.

Gardening is a great workout on all your main muscle groups. As with any form of exercise it is possible to work at varying intensities depending on what activity you are doing. Unlike some form of exercise however, this form of activity has a use – it is ‘productive activity’. You can expend a lot of energy while working on a bed which will then provide you with beautiful flowers or yummy vegetables. Likewise, mowing the lawn is something often seen as a chore but at least it keeps you working hard. This makes the cup of tea after your gardening session even more enjoyable.

As well as being a productive way to lead an active lifestyle, I believe gardening can encourage healthy eating. Eating the produce your own hands have planted and nurtured can be so exciting. It seems it can make you suddenly a lot more enthusiastic about eating your fruit and vegetables because they’ve come out of the ground that you’ve worked and prepared and you have picked them yourself. They can’t be fresher and you can almost taste the hard work that has gone in to them. It appears that when there is fresh produce in the house it can flick a switch in you that makes you want to cook a hearty, healthy meal. Using produce grown in your garden has potential to bring a sense of enjoyment to cooking from scratch and also sitting down to eat your meal.

Using home grown food can also have an affect on the type of meals you have and might mean that you end up eating according to the seasons more. Working on your garden throughout the year can really help in feeling a little more connected to nature and the seasons. You feel you are working with the seasons and the elements they bring – not against them. I love the idea of preparing the ground in winter, getting everything ready for the time when vegetables and plants can be sowed.

Working outside across the year and being able to see the literal fruits of your labour can be so rewarding and I think it can do wonders for your mental health. You end up nurturing and working to protect your garden, you feel as though you are working on something special.

It is when you spend time looking at gardens and how they change from season to season that their beauty really comes to life. The other day I went to the Bath Botanical Gardens with my boyfriend and we were amazed at how many different species of plants they had growing there. All of them were so different; some had very delicate and dainty petals while on others you could see the thick wax that made them durable for the nasty weather. Walking through them was very calming and there was a sense of life. It made the imagination run wild, dreaming up stories and recalling books and films already read and seen.

I am a complete beginner at gardening (which is demonstrated by the pain I felt in the few days post gardening) but each time I get out there, I learn a little bit more and there are so many different areas of gardening and ways to get stuck in; whether you like to visit public gardens, get involved with community ones, work on your own garden or allotment, or enjoy herbs from your kitchen garden on your window sill. In my opinion, all types of gardening can have great potential for achieving a healthy lifestyle.

So after all this rambling here is my list of, Reasons to Garden:

·         Increases level of activity

·         It’s productive activity

·         It can encourage eating more fresh fruit and vegetables

·         It can encourage home cooking from scratch

·         Working outside can give you a healthy, youthful glow!

·         Working with nature and the seasons can be very rewarding

·         It can be great for mental health – giving you space to think or not think as the case may be while actively doing something

·         Gardens can provide a space to be still and reflect, and a place to socialise and have fun