After an afternoon spent raking leaves from your lawn or pulling weeds from your garden, you may wonder how much all that activity counts toward your daily exercise quota. The answer? More than you think.
“Many gardening and gardening tasks require enough effort to be considered moderate-intensity exercise,” says Dr. I-Min Lee, professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School and expert on the role of activity. physics in disease prevention. For example, raking and many other gardening tasks require at least 3 metabolic equivalents (METs) – a standard measurement that exercise researchers use to assess effort (see “Lawn and Garden Maintenance: How Many effort ? “).
U.S. physical activity guidelines recommend getting at least 150 minutes per week of moderate-intensity exercise. You can achieve this goal by completing gardening or yard tasks, whether you do it all in just two days on the weekend or spread it out over the entire week.
Lawn and garden maintenance: how much effort?A metabolic equivalent (MET) is a measurement used by exercise researchers, based on the amount of oxygen per minute that an average person uses during a particular activity. A MET is the amount of energy you expend when you sit quietly. Activities rated at 2 MET consume twice as much oxygen as sitting, 3 MET means three times as much oxygen, and so on. Activities that use 3 to 5.9 METs are considered moderate-intensity exercise. Many common gardening tasks fall into this category. |
|
|
ACTIVITY |
MET |
|
Walk and stand to pick flowers or vegetables |
3.0 |
|
Digging, spading, filling the garden, composting (light to moderate effort) |
3.5 |
|
Rake the lawn or leaves (moderate effort) |
4.0 |
|
Planting seedlings, crops, shrubs, including in a leaning position (moderate effort) |
4.3 |
|
Pushing a wheelbarrow or large garden cart |
4.8 |
|
Mowing the lawn, walking with an electric lawn mower (moderate to vigorous effort) |
5.0 |
|
Weeding, garden cultivation, hoeing (moderate to vigorous effort) |
5.0 |
|
Mow the lawn with a push or manual mower (vigorous effort) |
6.0 |
Stronger and safer?
You may be able to reap some additional health benefits from these outdoor activities. Many yard and garden tasks – digging holes, shoveling dirt and spreading compost, or bagging grass clippings or leaves, for example – strengthen various muscles, including those in the legs, arms and back. trunk. As Dr. Lee points out, exercise guidelines also recommend muscle-strengthening exercises two days a week. Another benefit: As is also the case with activities like walking, swimming, and dancing, gardening or gardening has a low injury rate compared to more intense, vigorous activities like running.
Reap what you sow
There is even evidence showing the benefits of gardening on the whole body, according to a 2023 study in Lancet Planetary Health. The researchers recruited nearly 300 adults who had never gardened before. They assigned half of them to a community gardening group and asked the others to wait a year before starting gardening. All wore activity monitors and responded to periodic surveys assessing their eating habits and mental health.
People in the gardening group increased their physical activity levels by about 42 minutes per week. They also consumed about 7% more fiber per day – perhaps because they ate what they grew – compared to those who didn’t garden. Additionally, gardeners reported greater reductions in stress and anxiety. All of these changes help reduce the risk of heart disease. Other evidence indicates improved physical and mental health through gardening, even if you grow flowers or other landscape plants instead of agricultural produce.
If you enjoy gardening and yard work, this may be a good way to meet your exercise goals and strengthen your cardiovascular health, says Dr. Lee. “After all, the best diet is doing activities you enjoy, because you’re more likely to do them regularly,” she says.
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