Gardening Improves Sleep Quality in Adults: Study

Gardeners and exercisers had fewer sleep complaints than non-exercisers, and those who spent more time in the garden had increasingly fewer complaints.

Getty Images/iStock

Adults who have trouble sleeping may want to try getting their hands dirty for a better night’s rest.

A new study published in the Journal of Affective Disorders found that adults who spent time working in the garden had fewer sleep issues. The findings offer insight into the importance of unplugging from screens and devices and spending time outside.

Sleep Deprivation: A National Epidemic

Our modern world, rife with smartphones, tablets, and laptops all offering endless entertainment, social media updates, and after-hours work emails, can make it hard to disconnect and wind down before bedtime. The National Council on Aging reports that 13.5 percent of American adults feel tired or exhausted most days and that more than one-third report getting less than seven hours of sleep in a 24-hour period. Furthermore, about 30 percent of adults report having insomnia, with about 10 percent of those having it so bad that it affects their daily lives.

Although a person can recover from one or two nights of poor-quality sleep, chronic poor-quality sleep and lack of sleep have been associated with an overall lower quality of life. People who don’t get enough sleep are at heightened risk for diabetes, obesity, heart disease, cancer, stroke, dementia, and death.

Story continues below advertisement

“Therefore, it is crucial to explore and develop effective strategies to promote sleep health,” the researchers who conducted the new study wrote.

Gardeners Have Fewer Sleep Complaints

The research team looked at gardening as a potentially effective way to alleviate sleep issues because it offers multiple forms of physical activity with a low risk of injuries. Previous research has found that gardening correlates to reduced sleep-related disease outcomes. However, there have been no large-scale studies of community-based populations until now.

In the study, researchers examined data from more than 62,000 American adults who participated in a 2017 Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System telephone survey. The data included information on adults who didn’t exercise, who gardened, and who exercised. The sample included 16,707 non-exercisers, 4,243 gardeners, and 41,148 exercisers. Respondents also reported how well and how long they slept, noting any complaints, such as whether they suffered from insomnia, daytime sleepiness, or sleep apnea.

Gardeners and exercisers were less likely to experience multiple sleep complaints than people who didn’t exercise. Additionally, gardeners who spent more time gardening reported even fewer sleep complaints, indicating that the sleep benefits may increase the longer one spends in the garden. However, the effects gardening had on sleep apnea were unclear.

Gardening’s Many Benefits

Gardening is a great, accessible activity because it requires full-body movement, which mimics a workout: Weeding requires squats and lunges, and carrying bags of mulch works out the large muscle groups. Digging, raking, and using a push mower are all physically intense activities that can get the heart rate up. In fact, if you aren’t used to many of these activities, you might find yourself sore after a solid day out in the garden.

Beyond the physical benefits of gardening, growing and eating homegrown fruits and vegetables can positively affect your diet. Gardeners are typically more likely to include vegetables in a well-balanced, healthy diet, which can also help improve sleep.

Lastly, spending time outdoors is known to improve physical and mental health. Allergies aside, people tend to breathe more deeply when spending time outside. Doing so helps clear the lungs, improves digestion and immune response, and increases oxygen levels in the blood. Furthermore, spending time outside has been shown to reduce heart rate and muscle tension, which can lessen some of the damage caused by sleepless nights.