AHS 155 Stress and Health
Stress Management Tip Blog Post
Remote Learning Week 3
Annabel Edelman
Spring is a time of year when the world opens itself to new things not possible during the long Winter months. There is more daylight, more green, more warmth, with every passing day, and while it is sometimes still colder than we would like, overall the world is waking up. This year, instead of feeling better and brighter, our journey towards the light has been full of uncertainty, fear, and sickness. Particularly for students of all ages, who should be celebrating the end of term, finals, and in some cases, graduation, the world feels, well, wrong. We are forced into distancing, attending class remotely, and some of us may even know people who are battling the pandemic personally. Having made the decision to participate in higher education, only to have everything become strange and considerably less practically engaging, is a stressor in and of itself. Trying the best we can helps, but only to a point. Many of our usual activities that help us combat stress, such as going to the gym or salon, visiting friends and loved ones, even shopping for groceries, are unavailable or severely reduced.
Instead of hiding in our homes, let us first and foremost go outside. The mere existence of more daylight is a powerful cue for our biological clocks to wake up and get going. Although we live indoors, we are still animals who need to move and grow. Walk out into the sunshine the next time we have a beautiful day. Shut your eyes and stretch your body, even if it is only for 60 seconds. Notice how the Sun feels on your skin, how the light looks through your closed eyelids. Breathe deeply in through your nose and out through your mouth.
Open your eyes and glance around your yard, or porch if you do not have one. Use the Internet to find a listing of some easy-to-grow plants that do well in this climate. If you are really working with limited space, you may want to consider using planters or large flower pots instead. Choose 1-6 types of plants you like the look of, and walk around, envisioning what these would look like growing in various potential spots in your yard etc. If you must grow them indoors, be sure to choose plants that will be ok with this.
Depending on what plants you choose, it may be too late to start them from seed. If not, germinate and sprout them indoors initially. Wal Mart, one of the only stores open, sells LED UV bulbs that fit standard lamps. They also have soil and pots. The Internet will help guide you through starting and maintaining your plants. If you are not starting them from seed, again Wal Mart has some varieties of plant, and if they do not have what you want, various garden centers will be glad to arrange a plant pick-up even if they have not got regular hours.
Care for your plants gently, and do not be afraid to move the pots in and out doors depending on the day’s weather. You do not need to make it fancy. You can use old soda bottles for pots, for example. Youtube has a wealth of tips and hacks. Standard potting soil will work fine; soil from the ground may be ok, in a pinch. Tap water is ok; if yours is very chlorinated, buy a few gallons of spring water at the dollar store or something. Keep a gardening journal through your process. This will help you look back on what you did that worked, didn’t work, and map the progress of your plants. When you are ready to give them a permanent home, once they are big enough, be sure they will have all the light they need, and prepare to possibly defend them from pests like beetles or bunnies.
Learning a new skill of any kind is a great way to not wallow in the COVID blues. Gardening is even more rewarding now than ever; it is creative, you will see the fruit (or flowers, or both!) of your labors and feel proud. If something bad happens to your plants, record it in your journal, and remember to do things differently the next time. Even if all your plants drown, or get eaten, or sunburnt, you can always pick up more small ones. If all else fails, houseplants can be fun. The satisfaction of caring for another life, albeit small and green, is great, and to have raised it up from a baby seed is even more rewarding. In cultivating a garden, you take on the responsibility for lives beyond your own, in an affordable, safe way.
Society as we know it is still mostly turned inward, cautious and anxious and waiting, waiting, waiting. Winter technically ended almost 2 months ago. Lack of regular activities makes it hard to remember this sometimes. But reconnecting with nature in this way will help you remember that the world is coming back to life after a long darkness— there is no need to hide from this. Even as we hide from each other, from coronavirus, letting the sunshine give us life, within ourselves and within our space, and give us the power to create and sustain new, green life, is therapeutic and calming. It gives us a sense of achievement to create, and even more pride in our creation when we bring our daydreams to life and conjure something out of (almost) nothing. There is no right or wrong way to do this, and even if your plants die, we all have the time on our hands to try and try again. Give your plant babies as much care as they need and trust Nature to do the rest. Thank our Sun, our battery that brings life to our entire planet, all the time. Instead of fearing death and uncertainty, celebrate life, one sprout at a time. Plants innately know how to overcome adversity and thrive in the face of challenges, and believe it or not, so do you.
Resources:
Soga, M., Gaston, K. J., & Yamaura, Y. (2016). Gardening is beneficial for health: A meta-analysis. Preventive medicine reports, 5, 92–99. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pmedr.2016.11.007 Retrieved on May 14, 2020 from https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5153451/
Van Den Berg, A. E., & Custers, M. H. G. (2011). Gardening Promotes Neuroendocrine and Affective Restoration from Stress. Journal of Health Psychology, 16(1), 3–11. https://doi.org/10.1177/1359105310365577 Retrieved on May 13, 2020 from https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/1359105310365577#articleCitationDownloadContainer
Sempik, J. (2010) Green Care and Mental Health: Gardening and Farming as Health and Social Care. Mental Health and Social Inclusion, vol. 14 Issue 3, August 2010. Retrieved May 13, 2020 from http://biblioteca.esec.pt/cdi/ebooks/docs/Sempik_Green_care.pdf
