I knew there was a reason I felt better after being in the garden. http://www.gardeningknowhow.com/garden-how-to/soil-fertilizers/antidepressant-microbes-soil.htm
I do believe that is true CJ. I think many more people would feel much better just to get outside and get dirty with garden dirt. It is therapeutic and satisfying to actually harvest something you grew and eat it. Must be why I seem to have never needed a dr or drugs... I just go to the garden... EAT MORE DIRT!... maybe that should be our mantra, huh?
So that's why I'm so darned cheerful! Everyone thinks I'm just goofy, but I'm just dirty and not depressed.
I do find it interesting. Four decades ago 3 in 4 homes had a garden. And 50% of the population hunted fished and camped. Mental illness, while it existed, was no where near as prevalent. The folks my age that I've brought this up with simply say that the depression and mental illness has been the same forever but people didn't talk about it. I tend to believe it was because of little things like is explained in the article. Am I making sense?
I saw this on the news the other day and hubby and I have both seen the change in me between days spent in the garden and days stuck in the house. Mental illness has been hidden and not talked about since the beginning of people. It was very prevalent, behind closed doors, but not talked about in 'polite society' for fear of being put away. "Happy Days" was a TV program not a way of life back then.
I think you're making sense because I agree with you. Of course we might both be wrong here. The thing is, we're removing ourselves from the life we were made to live and replace it with a man-made, mechanic life. We're hardly outside. We sit still for hours on end at school or work. We socialize indoors. We buy most of what we eat. Some children grow up not knowing that milk comes from a cow and eggs from a hen, and they don't know how vegetables grow. Please understand I don't want to go back in time. I just feel that our daily lives have changed so fast our bodies can't keep up.
Toni. Please do not think that I'm saying it didn't exist back then. I understand that it has been around since the dawn of humans. And is even seen in other animals. I just think many of the problems we see now are due to things other than finally being able to talk about it as a society. And rapid diagnosis I think does play a serious factor.
I don't know about mental illness being related to soil but I do know that all the man-made fertilizers and everything being sprayed or treated with who knows what, can be a major factor causing ADHD in children.
I love gardening and have always felt better even weeding to make my garden look better. Just the fresh air (when you can get outdoors when the neighbors aren't having chemicals sprayed on their lawns. We are on a corner so we are chased inside quite a bit when they arrive with the chemicals.) and the SUN makes a big difference... It seems like my dogs have a built in weather vane in them, when it is rainy they just lay around and sleep and when the sun is out, they want to go out doors more and run around.
CJay, I find that gardening does bring me a certain level of peace and it definitely helps me when I am feeling low. I believe a lot of it has to do with simply being outside in the sunshine. A lot of us spend so much time indoors that we miss out on the benefits the sun can give our bodies, like good old Vitamin D. http://www.gardenstew.com/blog/e19470-95-gardening-before-work.html
I absolutely LOVE seeing the first blooms of spring poke through the earth after a dull dark winter. Really gives me a lift and good feelings. Not that I'd be depressed from winter per se but IMO the colour, the natural cycle of new life, the freshness of new flowers all works to lighten the mood.
