The theme for June 2021 is National Growing for Well-being Week, from 1-6 June.
This is the focus for this month, as part of our project all about growing plants, whether that's a herb in a pot on your kitchen shelf, a splash of colour in your window box, or a sapling in a wider space that will grow into a full-size tree. You can grow it for food, for show, as a tribute (a 'leafy legacy') or just to test whether they really do grow better when you talk to them!
We have built a separate website for this:
with supporting information provided here.
The idea of celebrating a national growing for wellbeing week comes from the social enterprise called life at no 27, https://lifeatno27.com/
Life at No.27 is a social enterprise built with passion at its core and designed to change lives. Using the power of gardening to support anyone struggling with low confidence, self-esteem, isolation and mental ill health. Enabling ownership and control, whilst building confidence, self-belief and inner purpose.
Fresh air and sunlight can help improve our well-being across multiple areas, from making us feel happier and more relaxed, to having a measurable effect on our circulatory systems, recovery time, and overall health.
Plants and wellbeing
Human well-being is a complex issue. Scientific research is beginning to evaluate the effect plants have on different aspects of this subject. Types of plants, their arrangement and factors such as scent and colour are also being investigated.
According to the RHS:
The psychological benefits of indoor plants have been shown as:
- An improved mood
- Reduced stress levels
- Increased worker productivity (adding plants to office environments in particular)
- Increased speed of reaction in a computer task
- Improved attention span (in some scientific studies, but not all)
- Increased pain tolerance (for example, where plants were used in hospital settings)
The physical health benefits of indoor plants have been shown as:
- Reduced blood pressure
- Reduced fatigue and headaches by 20-25 percent in one study
- Patients in hospital rooms with plants reported decreased post-operative pain