Healing Gardens

In the Middle Ages, gardens were deemed to be an important facet of human healing, particularly in monastery settings. For example, with its centrally-located water feature and its open view of the sky, the traditional monastery cloister was designed to facilitate meditation for both resident monks and patients.

During the Victorian era, gardens were often found in hospital settings. And beginning in the nineteenth century, French churches advocated community gardens as a way to improve the circumstances of the working poor. In the United States, the Quakers’ Friends Hospital in Pennsylvania treated patients suffering from mental ill health with gardening and walks in the surrounding lands.

This focus on nature and healing, however, was lost for much of the twentieth century, and only in the past few decades have outdoor and nature-based therapies once again gained popularity. Some interesting and important work is being done with victims of torture, and I’ll share two examples.

Healing gardens for victims of torture

In Germany, the Berlin Center for Torture Victims (Behandlungszentrum für Folteropfer Berlin) incorporates a garden project, the Intercultural Healing Garden, as part of its work with victims of torture and human rights violations from more than 50 countries. For many of the patients, gardening is meaningful work that improves their health and well-being, and self-confidence. And as the Center describes, many patients come from rural areas where gardening was a part of their daily reality, and so work in the Intercultural Healing Garden helps to reconnect them with some of the positive aspects of their former lives, despite living through horrific experiences of torture.

The Center for Victims of Torture in Minneapolis similarly incorporates a garden. Clients, many of whom suffer from post-traumatic distress, can wait for their appointments in the garden, and many of the Center’s counselors also spend time there to help them cope with the stress and anguish that come from hearing stories of pain and suffering every day. Sarah Wash reports that many of the Center’s staff have also taken up gardening at home. Further, since trauma survivors often suffer from loneliness and isolation, the Center uses gardening “to help people connect with one another and reestablish a sense of trust” (¶6). 

The Center’s garden designer Betty Ann Addison beautifully tells Sarah Wash that: 

“Gardens are all about transition – whether it be from illness to healing or from life to death. They change by the hour, week, month, and year. They require us to relinquish control: A deep appreciation of life emerges with each sprouting plant, even the weeds. And simply by embracing natural rhythms, people from all walks of life, no matter the nature of their past experiences, can learn to accept the inevitability of loss and find hope in the promise of new life.” (¶7)

The bottom line

The word “meaningful” comes up often in my own research, and I also find it here in connection with the work on healing gardens – particularly in the ways that gardening and connecting with the earth, soil and plants provides meaningful connections with life in the face of horrific and traumatizing experiences. And for me, it highlights the importance of reflecting on and finding meaningful work in all of our lives, in contrast with the sometimes mundane – and perhaps meaningless – tasks that many of us are asked to do.

References:

Berlin Center for Torture Victims (no date). Healing garden.

Di Iacovo, Francesco, and O’Connor, Deirdre (Eds). (2009). Supporting policies for socialfarming in Europe: Progressing multifunctionality in responsive rural areas. Press Service srl, Sesto Fiorentino (FI).

Louv, Richard. (2008). Last child in the woods: Saving our children from nature-deficit disorder (updated and expanded). Chapel Hill, N.C.: Algonquin Books of Chapel Hill.

Messer Diehl, Elizabeth R. (2009). Gardens that heal. In L. Buzzell and C. Chalquist (Eds). Ecotherapy: Healing with nature in mind (pp. 166-173). San Francisco: Sierra Club Books.

Pretty, Jules. (2004). How nature contributes to mental and physical health. Spirituality and Health International, 5(2), 68-78.

Wash, Sarah. (2006). The healing power of flowers:Torture victims turn to gardens for hope. Utne Magazine (March/April).

A View of One’s Own

A question I'm asked fairly often is whether window views make a difference to our well-being. And the answer is a resounding yes!

When I first started doing this research, my partner and I were living in a 400-square-foot studio apartment in Manhattan. The space was cramped and we were considering a move to a one-bedroom place in the same building. However, our studio faced onto a sunny park that bordered the Hudson River, while all the one-bedroom apartments were on the other side of the building, with views of the apartments across the street. Intuitively, despite our desire for a slightly larger living space, we could not give up our view of the park. And when I read all the research, I was glad that we didn’t!

And this past spring, I was teaching a 3-hour university class in a room with no windows. It was unbearable, and rather than staying in that room for the full class, I took my students outside as much as possible, where we sat on the lawn, surrounded by trees, feeling a light breeze and the sun shining down on on our skin. In other classes, one might lose half the students after the break, but whenever we went outside, almost all of them stayed. More importantly, they genuinely listened to and focused on one another when they spent outside together. And they were happy.

If you read my post about blood pressure and nature walks a few weeks ago, you might remember that in the first experiment, participants’ blood pressure increased when they were put in a room with no windows. Here are a few other studies about window views:

Hospital patients with a view of trees recover more quickly

Nearly 30 years ago, in the prominent research journal Science, Roger Ulrich described his discovery that compared to hospital patients whose windows looked onto a brick wall, patients who had a view of trees from their hospital beds:

1)   had a shorter stay

2)   required fewer medications

3)   experienced fewer postsurgical complications

Prison inmates with a view of farm fields use health services less often

A parallel study by Ernest Moore found that prison inmates with a view of farm fields used prison health care services less often than those who looked onto the inner courtyard.

Employees are healthier and happier with a nature view

Rachel Kaplan showed a similar pattern in workplace settings. Employees whose window provides a view of trees or a park are sick less often as well as more satisfied with their jobs compared to their peers without such a view. And Sjerp de Vries and colleagues point to other research about how even pictures of nature can positively influence people’s moods and concentration!

The bottom line

We should be out of doors as much as possible, but our current economic system dictates that many of us spend much of our time working indoors, whether in school classrooms, workplaces, or other institutional spaces. But window views matter. A lot. We should not put up with school classrooms without windows (or very small windows). We should not put up with offices without windows. Universities, hospitals, prisons, and other institutional spaces need to consider this research when designing their rooms.

And in the meantime, if you do find yourself (heaven forbid!) in one of these spaces, bring nature in as much as possible – even if it’s just a few posters of trees, flowers, mountains, or the desert, a jar of rocks, or some dried branches or twigs. And then continue to push for a space with a window view. And go outside as much as possible.

References:
de Vries, S., Verheij, R. A., Groenewegen, P. P., and Spreeuwenberg, P. (2003). Natural environments-healthy environments? An exploratory analysis of the relationship between greenspace and health. Environment and Planning A, 35, 1717-1731.

Kaplan, Rachel. (2001). The nature of the view from home: Psychological benefits. Environment and Behavior, 33(4), 507-542.

Moore, E. O. (1981). A prison environment’s effect on health care service demands. Journal of Environmental Systems, 11, 17-34.

Ulrich, Roger S. (1984). View through a window may influence recovery from surgery. Science, 224(4647), 420-421.

 

Gardening and Aging

When my grandmother first moved into an assisted-living home, I was amazed by one of the other residents—a 98-year-old woman who took care of all the gardening at the home. I couldn’t imagine having the energy for all that work at nearly 100 years old!

It turns out that her gardening may have not only have been important for her but probably helped all the residents.

Gardens for Nursing Home Residents

A study with elderly nursing home residents showed positive results for the residents who spent time in a garden setting. Compared to those who only spent time indoors, the residents who spent time in the garden reported:

1) lower levels of anxiety

2) an increase in positive mood

Measurements of the residents’ cortisol (a stress hormone) levels confirmed these findings—the cortisol levels of garden participants were reduced by two and a half times those of the study’s indoor participants.

Alzheimer’s Patients with Access to Gardens

Another study followed patients with Alzheimer’s disease at five different care facilities for two years. Two of the care facilities provided patients with access to gardens, while at the other three, patients had no access to nature settings.

Over the two years, violent assaults by Alzheimer’s patients at the facilities with no access to gardens increased significantly (violence is a common occurrence amongst Alzheimer’s patients because the disease causes a person’s cognitive processes to deteriorate over time).

Meanwhile, at the two facilities with gardens, levels of violence amongst patients with Alzheimer’s stayed the same or even decreased slightly when patients were given regular access to the gardens.

The Bottom Line

There are deep connections between humans and nature. Well, really, we are nature. But in today’s world of technology and modern conveniences, it’s easy to forget this. Yet as these studies are showing, connecting with the natural world outside ourselves is deeply important to human cognitive development (see my previous posts about Green School Yards and the ADHD-nature connection), as well as our continued health and wellbeing—physical, emotional, spiritual—into old age.

Something to think about for sure! And perhaps bring into practice if you can.

References

Mooney, P. and Nicell, P.L. (1992). The importance of exterior environment for Alzheimer’s residents: Effective care and risk management. Health Care Management Forum, 5(2), 23-29.

Rodiek, Susan. (2002). Influence of an outdoor garden on mood and stress in older persons. Journal of Therapeutic Horticulture, 13, 13-21.