It is undeniable that the natural world is good for us. Whether we spend our time strolling through the nearest woodland, playing at the park with our children, or simply relaxing in our own backyards, there is something about spending time in the natural beauty that helps people thrive.
Fortunately, we do not have to enter into the wild to get the most out of nature. Your garden design and spending time in your own outdoor spaces can have many well-being benefits similar to if you were to go for a hike in the mountains.
Landscaping is beneficial to humans in multiple ways: it improves our physical and mental health, supports wildlife, cleans the environment, and can also have monetary benefits.
Let’s dive a little deeper into how landscaping can benefit our well-being.
Landscaping Is Good For Your Physical Health
Landscapes are physically beneficial for your health. Not only does working in the garden provide you with physical activity, but the benefits of trees and plants include providing fresh air and combating climate change.
Here are the main reasons why landscaping is essential for your physical well-being.
Improves air quality
Healthy landscapes with lots of greenery produce oxygen and reduce smoke and other pollutants in the air. Landscapes with lots of trees are able to provide us with fresh air which is critical for a healthy life.
Reduce stress and lowers blood pressure
There is evidence that being able to see plants – even if just through your window – is able to reduce cortisol (a hormone responsible for stress) as well as lowering blood pressure.
Having high cortisol levels are linked to gaining weight, limited memory, and cardiovascular diseases.
Improved immune system and reduced inflammation
Spending time in nature has the ability to reduce the occurrence of inflammation. This directly impacts those with autoimmune diseases or irritable bowel syndrome and has the potential to reduce their symptoms.
Being outside – whether in your garden or a forest – boosts the immune system’s functioning. This enables you to better fight diseases and remains healthy.
Increased lifespan
Landscaping has been associated with increased lifespans. This is directly linked to the ability of nature to reduce stress and the prevalence of heart disease.
Stressing less reduces your chances of developing a heart problem, which in turn allows you to live a long, happy and healthy life.
Landscaping Is Good For Mental Health
Landscaping has as many mental health benefits as it has for your physical body.
Spending time outside can reduce stress, depression and anxiety. It is also able to enhance your mood, boost your self-esteem, and work wonders on any mental struggles you might be experiencing.
Being able to relax outside can also boost your short-term memory, improve your focus, and help with problem-solving. Therefore, people should spend time in public open spaces during their lunch breaks.
Even those living in apartments can benefit from nature. Having just a single house plant can help people to feel more relaxed, and also gives them a purpose as they have to nurture the plant.
Enhances Your Mood
Lush green spaces work wonders to alter a person’s mood. Spending time in nature reduces the production of the hormone cortisol, which is related to feelings of anxiety.
Reduced cortisol levels will make you feel calmer and also reduce your blood pressure. This in turn will elevate your mood and provide you with a sense of peace, tranquillity and joy.
It can therefore be concluded that plants and gardens genuinely make people happier, which highlights the importance of green spaces in public health efforts.
Fosters a sense of community
Landscaping improves overall community well-being as well. When people live in areas with lots of well-maintained parks and open areas, people generally feel that the area is safer.
The improved self-esteem that results from spending time in nature can also combat antisocial behaviour. When people are calm, de-stressed, and feel like they live in a safe space, they will be more likely to interact with other members of the community.
If you want to improve your neighbourhood and encourage community participation while helping your mental health, why not start an initiative to clean up or replant the local green space?
Landscaping Is Good For The Environment
Our environment is the space in which we live our lives, and include the air we breathe, the water we drink, and the food we cultivate and eat.
Our environment not only includes our home and work but also our gardens. Here is how landscaping your garden can benefit the environment in which we live.
Cools the air
Green spaces where grass and plants grow are much cooler than hard landscaping that makes use of concrete and asphalt.
Grass and plants, therefore, act as natural air conditioner that cools down the surrounding environment. Trees are also able to cool down homes and gardens by providing shade.
Apart from the shade and ability to not reflect the sun’s heat as asphalt does, plants also release water vapour from their leaves. This seemingly insignificant ability of plants is actually able to significantly reduce outside temperatures, especially during a heatwave.
Plants are able to reduce the outside temperature by about 6 degrees compared to an area without plants.
So, if you plan on spending lots of time in your garden over the summer, make sure you have plenty of greenery to keep you cool even on the hottest days.
Cleans the environment
Leaves and grass are able to capture dust, smoke and other airborne pollutants. This reduces the toxicity in the air around us. Coupled with the ability of plants to produce oxygen, it is easy to see why plants are so crucial to the environment and our health.
Tree-lined roads are able to reduce the toxic gasses produced by cars by 55%, while shrubs planted around parking areas are able to reduce car fumes by 20%.
It is therefore undoubtedly important to plant as many beneficial trees and plants as possible in your garden to ensure you are provided with fresh, clean air.
Combats soil pollution
Plants are not only able to clean the air, but they also play a vital role in maintaining soil health. The roots are able to extract toxins from the soil, combatting soil pollution.
Garden plants are able to remove waste and chemicals from the soil, meaning by landscaping your garden you can help to clean up the soil.
Cleans up the air
Plants in your landscaped garden can absorb carbon dioxide and produce oxygen which we need to live. Plants also remove toxic nitrogen dioxide from the air.
Even small changes to your garden can make a big difference to the purity of the air you breathe.
You may think your garden is already doing enough, but consider what changes you can make to further benefit your lungs. Add a variety of flowers, increase the size of your lawn, or plant some mature trees to filter the air.
Reduces noise
Having lots of shrubs and trees in your garden will help to reduce noise pollution. Noise from cars and industries reflects off of hard surfaces like walls and pavement. Having lots of plants in your garden and surrounding your house can reduce noise levels by 20 – 30%.
Surface runoff protection and water management
Lawns and flowerbeds are able to absorb rainwater that would normally run over impermeable, hard surfaces. This aids with flood prevention during storms.
Landscaping also reduces the amount of water that flows into our stormwater systems, meaning less polluted water eventually enters our natural water bodies.
Landscaping Is Good For Your Budget
Financial well-being is also important, and you may think that spending money on landscaping is an unnecessary expense, however, in the long run, beautiful landscaping can benefit your property value.
Having a well-landscaped garden will increase the curb appeal of your home, which will in turn increase your home’s value. People tend to want to buy homes with beautifully landscaped gardens and are willing to pay much more for such properties.
You can design your garden to benefit your home and cut down on energy bill costs. This is because plants, trees and lawns act as natural air conditioners, reducing your cooling expenses by at least 10%.
Properly planning your garden with drought-tolerant plants means you will also reduce your use of water, providing you with extra savings on your bills at the end of each month.
Benefits Of Landscaping In Urban Areas
Landscaping is not only beneficial for those with acres of land or sprawling gardens. It also holds benefits for those living in built-up urban areas. The main role of landscaping in urban developments is to improve the quality of life in the following ways:
- Reduces city noise pollution.
- Support wildlife by providing refuge.
- Helps residents to relax by reducing blood pressure.
- A growing body of evidence suggests green space in the city provides people with places to exercise outdoors and breathe in the fresh air, which has been shown to increase attention span and short-term memory.
- Neighbourhoods with lots of trees and large yards have reduced crime rates.
Benefits Of Commercial Landscapes
Even commercial areas can be landscaped to benefit the employees and the clients. This is done by placing plants inside commercial establishments, but also landscaping available outdoor areas.
- Office spaces with landscaped gardens can attract higher rental fees.
- Shoppers appear to be attracted to commercial properties with landscaping and trees. You can therefore attract clients by landscaping your shop exterior.
- Shoppers are willing to travel further and shop for longer in commercial areas with high-quality vegetation and trees.
- Employees are more efficient if they can spend time in a landscaped area during their breaks.
FAQs
How can we benefit from landscaping?
Landscaping affects the world around us in positive ways, which in turn enhances our physical and mental health.
Here is how landscapes can benefit us:
- Cools down the air temperature and provides shade.
- Cleans the air, water and soil.
- Improves quality of life by reducing stress and associated heart diseases.
- Prevents erosion and surface runoff.
- Helps with flood mitigation.
- Provides you with a space to exercise outdoors.
- Reduces noise levels.
Why are landscapes important?
Landscapes are a way to bring natural beauty into your everyday life. Having a landscaped garden or public space nearby will improve your well-being in terms of your physical and mental health.
Landscaping is able to improve your overall quality of life, lift your mood, clean your environment, and provide homes for wildlife.
How do landscapes affect our health?
Landscaping is able to improve our physical health in the following ways:
- Reduces the production of cortisol – the stress hormone.
- Reduced stress in turn reduces blood pressure and decreases the risk of developing heart disease.
- Enhances your mood and reduces feelings of anger and anxiety.
- Reduces heart rate.
- Provides clean air which is beneficial for our health.
Final Thoughts
Landscaping offers many benefits to people who are able to enjoy their environment. Whether it is spending time in a landscaped park in the city, or spending time in your own backyard, you will improve your overall well-being by spending time near plants.
By putting some effort into your garden landscaping, you will create an outdoor area that is not only beautiful but also reduces your carbon footprint and improves your mental and physical health.
