Let’s face it, high school can suck. As we get older the piles of homework get higher, the exams get harder, our friendship groups reshuffle and change, and family life is always a little messy. Adolescence is hard - it's likely that at some point you will feel lost, confused and maybe a little alone. Trust me, I’ve been there and I’m sure many of you have too.
Beyond Blue predicts that 1 in 7 Australians aged 4-17 experience a mental health condition. A recent survey conducted by Headspace revealed that over 70% of teenage respondents rated their mental health as poor, 79% reported feeling anxious and 76% described frequent low moods. Australia is experiencing a mental health epidemic and yet a black cloud of stigmatism still seems to hover over the topic.
Year 11 took a hit on me. The leap from 10 to 11 is tough - all of a sudden teachers, parents, friends and even strangers are assaulting you with questions about ‘the future’, the pressure is mounting for you to figure out the rest of your adult life while sitting in a boring classroom. I noticed a quick decline in my mental health. I was always tired despite fulfilling my prescribed 8 hours sleep - my local coffee shop now knows my order by heart. I became irritable for no reason - my brother copped a lot of it. Some days I just felt like curling up, crying and watching Netflix especially since I had just discovered Suits. My eating habits flew out the window when exams rolled around, Ben & Jerry’s and a pack of Mars pods rewarded long weeks. I felt like an old, second hand car with an engine vomiting smoke and the rest of the world was doing laps around me in their ferrari.
I’ve often felt as though the seasons influence my mood - recently I discovered that there is a scientific reason behind this change in mood. During winter we have shorter days, meaning less sunlight to get that yummy Vitamin D and our body begins to produce less serotonin (a hormone that regulates mood) therefore the change in season quite literally darkens our mood. I found myself longing for spring, the endless hours of daylight saving and 6pm golden hours. What came with this too was a sudden urge to start a garden.
At the beginning of spring my Mum and I hopped into our old white ute and went to Flower Power. Together we walked up and down the rows of plants spanning as far as the eye could see, deciding which ones would suit our little garden. By the end of the day I had adopted an array of plant babies - tomatoes, climbing, beans mint, thyme, basil, rosemary, lavender, some cute succulents and a mini cactus with pretty pink flowers. I went home and began - I dug, planted, fertilized, watered. Slowly I started to create my own little oasis in the front garden of my inner city home.
Everyday I would come home excited to see if they had grown and found myself more energised in the mornings to get out of bed and water them. There was one particular day that I remember I had an awful shift at Maccas, after slowly dragging myself home on the bus I opened my gate to find my beans had sprouted. Instantly my mood flipped. I was so happy and filled with excitement. Because I did that - I had cared for something every single day and it was working. Several studies have shown that gardening in fact boosts serotonin and dopamine levels and lowers blood pressure. A recent report by the RHS stated that 90% of respondents found that spending time with nature calmed them and 56% reported improved mental health due to plants. Metro Media penned an article that revealed that many GPs and doctors were now prescribing gardening in some cases to improve holistic care.
I don’t know about you but in the past I’ve had a track record of making impulse buys when I’m sad or in a need of a pick me up. Shopping has been proven to trigger rushes of dopamine - our brains are wired to receive these rushes from addictive and impulsive behaviours. These behaviours are usually followed with a sense of regret or guilt though. However, gardening has the same release of dopamine due to the sustained reward system of seeing growth and this time the behaviour is healthy rather than fluctuations that create highs and lows in mood.
Nowadays I’ve been in a much better mental space. I feel happier, less stressed, well rested, I’m eating well and Netflix has taken a back seat for Merchant of Venice and Frankenstein. At the end of a long, hard week I make a stop at my plant nursery and pick up a plant or two to reward myself. Gardening changed my mental health - seeing my tomatoes grow, the flowers open, the beans climb higher, it gives me so much joy and sometimes hope that even if something awful happens things will still grow and life will keep moving into a new season.
Love from,
Your Local Plant Mum
Comments