04/13/2026
“It’s just gardening” is what I hear right before someone tells me their back, hips, or hands are hurting.
Gardening is exercise.
It’s bending, lifting, gripping, and repeating… for hours.
Nothing wrong with it.
But your body still has to recover from it.
You don’t need to stop.
You just need the right support so it doesn’t catch up with you.
What are you growing this season?
Stop believing health only happens in a gym. Some of the healthiest people I've ever treated never set foot in one.
Research consistently shows that lifestyle activities like gardening count as moderate physical activity. The repeated bending, lifting, digging, and walking involved in tending a garden builds strength, flexibility, and cardiovascular fitness without ever feeling like exercise.
But gardening does more than move your body. It puts your hands in the soil, which research suggests may positively influence mood and immune function. It gets you outside in sunlight, which supports vitamin D, circadian rhythm, and mental health. It connects you to a living, growing thing that depends on your care.
A meta-analysis published in IJERPH in 2022 confirmed that time in nature significantly reduces anxiety and depression. Gardening combines all of these benefits into one activity.
In my practice, I've met 90-year-olds who credit their garden for everything: their mobility, their purpose, their reason to get up in the morning. They don't call it exercise. They call it tending.
You don't need acres. A patio with pots counts. A windowsill with herbs counts. A single tomato plant on a balcony counts.
Growing something is an act of hope. It tells your body you expect to be here for the harvest.
Your muscles, your mood, and your microbes all thrive when your hands are in the dirt.
What are you growing this season?
