Arcadia Seniors Improve Their Mental and Physical Health When They Engage in Gardening and Meditation to Reduce Their Stress

Stress is an enemy of your well being. It weakens your immune system. One of the goals of Pegasus home care professionals in Arcadia is to help you reduce stress.

Your body and your feelings are negatively affected by stress. The harm is increased if you try to overcome stress with alcohol, drugs, overeating, or smoking.

Relationships are also impacted if you resort to screaming or yelling at others. Nor are matters helped by withdrawing or giving in to depression. Beating stress often requires engaging in physical activity.

Arcadia home care experts practice relaxation techniques to alleviate their own stress. They have the knowledge and ability to show you healthy stress-relief methods. Among the ways in which individuals have reduced stress are:

• Cutting back on sugary drinks and caffeine
• Laughing
• Lighting a candle, especially one scented with an essential oil
• Listening to music
• Visiting with friends or family (unless they’re the source of your stress)

Our physical therapists can design exercises customized to strengthen and relax you.

Home Health Care Keeps You Living At Home InArcadia

The major advantage of home health care is the fact that you live at home. That gives you the freedom to do things you couldn’t otherwise do. One activity that has been proven to reduce stress is gardening.

You really don’t have to do much to gain the benefits of gardening. It doesn’t have to be hard labor. Any physical difficulties can be overcome with raised beds, trellises, and by modifying tools.

You don’t have to do everything by yourself in your garden. Inviting friends, family, or neighbors to join you provides beneficial social activity. You can choose to select the plants, dig, water, harvest, or just watch.

If you prefer, simply sit in a garden. Nature heals. All those worries and anxieties that had you stressed will disappear.

If you plant, you may choose colorful flowers for their beauty and fragrances. Or you may prefer to plant vegetables and enjoy the health benefits of home-grown food.

Not only does gardening help reduce stress, it improves your health in other ways. That’s because it:

• Stimulates the senses
• Creates beauty
• Improves the air
• Is exercise that’s fun
• Improves flexibility

Research is showing that gardening can help improve memory and reduce the risk of dementia.

Try Meditating to Reduce Stress and Improve Your Health

Meditation is another proven way to reduce stress. Meditation does not require you to assume a lotus position or sit on a mountaintop. It is not “zoning out.”

When you meditate, you are in a state of unthinking. You retain awareness of your surroundings. Rather than a multitude of worries, your mind is filled with calmness.

There’s more than one way to meditate. You may do it solo or in a group. You can listen to a guided meditation or make up your own.

Some individuals focus on one thing, like their breath, to achieve concentration. Others observe their thoughts but don’t judge or follow them. Walking meditation works for many.

You might like to start with a body scan meditation. Start at the top of your head and give attention to every part of your body, ending at your feet. You’ll gain new knowledge of your body.

Gardening and Meditation Offer Improved Mental and Physical Health

The benefits of gardening or meditation to reduce stress include improved:

• Ability to cope with difficulties calmly
• Mental alertness and cognitive ability
• Perspective about what’s important
• Positive emotions and moods

Your improved mental abilities lead to feeling better physically, which leads to feeling better mentally.

The physical benefits of reducing stress are many and varied. They include, but aren’t limited to:

• Better sleep and decreased fatigue
• Improved circulation
• Improved digestion
• Lessened pain
• Lowered blood pressure and heart rate
• Slowed rate of respiration

Being outside naturally increases your Vitamin D levels, which works with calcium to build strong bones.

Pegasus is a licensed Home Care Organization and a Joint Commission Accredited Home Health Care organization. The consistently high-quality care we have provided since 1994 has kept individuals living safely and independently in their home. We’re recognized as industry leaders by our peers.

We know how important reducing stress is to your health. We also know going outside, even if you don’t garden, is beneficial. We also know that meditation can improve your well-being.

National Garden Meditation Day falls on May 3 every year. It has passed by the time you are reading this, but that doesn’t matter. Today, and every day, is a good day to spend peaceful time in a garden.

Pegasus home health care professionals inArcadia are here for you. If you can’t get out, we’ll bring plants indoors to you. We’ll help you find a technique, place, and time to meditate.