Skip the Aspirin; Stare at Trees

This is the story of why my family started a vegetable garden.

I have never watched more news than in 2020/2021, which by chance I happened to see an interview with a doctor talking about the increase in depression due to Covid. She not only prescribed her patients medicine, but she also prescribed nature walks - and it seems for good reason. Being in nature has been scientifically proven to reduce stress, reduce anxiety, reduce depression, increase quality of life, increase happiness, improve cognition, and improve mental health.

But did you know, simply looking at nature has been scientifically proven to help patients heal faster and with less complications?

A patient's View Through a Window May Influence Recovery From Surgery according to a study. The study divided a group of patients recovering from surgery into two groups based on the view from their windows: one group's window faced a brick wall; the other group's window faced a row of trees. The patients' beds faced the window, so each group had a clear view of either a brick wall or a row of trees. The results of the study were surprising.

Patients with a view of trees were hospitalized shorter (7.96 days) than patients who had a view of the brick wall (8.7 days).

The tree-view patients [received fewer doses of pain medication and] more frequently received weaker pain medications like aspirin or acetaminophen while brick wall-view patients who needed stronger pain medications such as narcotics.

[Patients with the view of nature also reported having less negative emotional states (i.e. crying, being upset...) than those of the patients with the brick-wall.]

While it's important to take pain medication when you need it and when it's prescribed by the doctor, being in nature can help reduce feelings of pain and might even help in recovery and rehabilitation. Which leads me to question: What is the effect of drugs on the environment?

Many people improperly dispose of medications - be it in the toilet or garbage - and do not consider what effect it has on the environment. These drugs make their way into our water, seep into our soil, and make their way into our oceans. These drugs can chemically alter the genetics or hormones of fish - and no one knows what the full extent of this impact will have on our aquatic ecosystems. (read full article here) To dispose of your unused drugs safely, go to your local pharmacy.

Natural remedies are always my preference. So I wanted to dig deeper on the healing properties of nature, and I discovered:

Gardening has been proven to help you live longer.

According to the Blue Zone study, the world's oldest living communities (who also have fewest chronic illnesses) all take time to garden. This study found 9 evidence-based reasons why these centenarian communities are able to live longer and healthier:

1. They are naturally active. They do not do intense exercises, but they are constantly moving and walking naturally as they go about their life. A main example of natural exercise found in these communities is gardening - where they keep gardening well into their old age.
2. They have a sense of purpose. The feeling of having a purpose has been shown to add an extra 7 years to your life. (According to this study, gardening was shown to increase people's "life satisfaction, vigor, psychological wellbeing, positive affects, sense of community, and cognitive function.")
3. Downshift. They take time to relax and destress, be it gardening, taking a nap, or praying.
4. 80% Rule (Hara hachi bu). They eat until they are 80% full.
5. Plant based diets. Their diets are mostly plant based - particularly loading their plates with all different kinds of beans (that they probably planted themselves). They rarely eat meat.
6. Wine. They drink alcohol moderately and regularly.
7. They have a sense of belonging. They are a part of a faith based community where they attend regularly (which has been shown to add 4 to 14 years to life expectancy).
8. Love. They put their families first and spend time with the ones they love.
9. Right tribe. They have friends who are healthy with them.

Gardening encompasses 4 out of these 9 factors of longevity. And I can feel the peace of it every time I dig my hands into the soil, the feeling of nature and living things in my fingers and breath. And I can feel it every time I eat a carrot that I have waited weeks to grow or give a bunch of tomatoes to my sister. There's something special about the taste when you are the one who's put the time into tilling the land and growing the seed into something real (even if it's just a small patch in your yard or a planter on your windowsill). Sometimes meaningful things are in the process itself. Gardening is a continual discovery for me:

We grow the environment we live in (just as the environment grows us).

The small patches of dirt and seeds are my tiny environment that I care for. Somehow caring for the environment can be the best cure for the body and soul.