Hobbies are often neglected when they should be nurtured. Having a hobby can be a very good way of spending extra time and keeping us occupied, while also fortifying good habits.
However, not all hobbies are the same or have the same benefits for us. Gardening is a very good hobby that has benefits for everybody, including athletes. How do athletes benefit from having a home garden? Here are a couple of examples.
Growing Your Own Food
One of the primary benefits of having a home garden is the ability to grow your own food. Having your own food is the easiest way to ensure that you are getting the right nutrients into your body. It is also a lot more responsibility because the vegetables and fruits need to be cared for, with regular irrigation, pest, and disease control, not to mention potential weather hazards.
Athletes benefit the most from a proper and healthy nutritional plan, but it goes without saying that others would also benefit from growing their own food in their own garden. Most athletes already have good nutrition plans, but adding homegrown vegetables to the plan can only make the plan better.
The Mental Health Benefits of Gardening
Gardening, like most hobbies, can help by improving our mood and overall mental state. Gardening is a relaxing hobby most of the time, because plants have that effect on us, and because we are helping another being live and thrive. Whether spice plants, tea, vegetables, fruits, or decorative plants, growing plants and nurturing them is one of the best ways to make yourself feel better.
Plants add that extra bit of responsibility which most people enjoy. Caring for a living being is much different than having to do regular chores. Healthy habits, once more, help us in the long run, particularly these, the type that has multiple benefits.
Gardening Can Be Athletic
Depending on the type of gardening that one does, it can also be a very athletic exercise. Having to plow the area to prepare it for upcoming seeds is a tedious task that requires a bit of effort. There are mechanized ways of plowing but an athlete should want to get their hands dirty and get that extra bit of exercise.
Pulling weeds and caring for plants often sees the gardener on all fours or in awkward positions which involve squatting and precise but also tiring work. An extra set of exercises can be good, as a way to rest actively, which is often recommended as opposed to passive resting.
Gardening is a good hobby for everybody, but athletes also stand to gain from it, in the ways described above. There are a plethora of other reasons as to why gardening can be good for us, but these ones are probably among the most important ones for athletes.
