There is yet another possible remedy for people with a stress problem. Go weed. No I don’t mean go smoke pod. I mean go weed a garden. If you happen to have a garden, or have a friend that has a garden, it’s a good idea to weed the garden when you are stressed. Physical effort in the nature reduces the amount of stress hormone cortisol. That’s what the researchers at Alterra (I’m sorry, it’s Dutch) say. This is the second scientific proof to the already known fact, that nature has a relaxing effect.
Alterra put 30 members of a garden union to the test and loaded the members with stress, after which they went to their gardens for half an hour or they were asked to read a book. And as you might have guessed, the people that went to weed their gardens to weed, had less stress hormone cortisol in their saliva then the people that went to read a book.
So, next time you feel stressed out, stop popping pills, stop eating, stop doing the things you think that reduces your stress, and go outside and weed a garden.
Sun, Apr 6, 2008
Health