More gardening - Psychoneuroimmunoendocrinology Review and Commentary - Brief Article

Townsend Letter for Doctors and Patients,  April, 2003  by Robert A. Anderson

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In 863 Dutch men and women age 65-84 with established hypertension, the quartile of lowest physical activity had significantly higher blood pressures than the highest quartile after controlling for age, sex and weight. The most significant measure appeared for those who gardened (p<.O3). The lowest quartile compared to the highest also had a significantly lower HDL (p<.J45).

Casperson, C.J. et a!. The prevalence of selected physical activities and their relation with coronary heart disease risk factors in elderly men: the Zutphen study, 1985. Am J Epidemiol 1991 Jun 1; 133(11):1075-92

COMMENT: Gardening has been shown to specifically benefit a number of pathological conditions: hypertension in this study. Gardening is not usually found in the lists of effective approaches for management of hypertension.

Robert Anderson is a retired family physician. In mid-career, his practice took on a more holistic nature as decades passed. He has authored five major books, Stress Power! (1978), Wellness Medicine (1987), The Complete Self-Care Guide to Holistic Medicine (1999) (co-author), The Scientific Basis for Holistic Medicine, (5th edition) available from American Health Press, nhf@msn.com, and Clinician's Guide to Holistic Medicine (McGraw Hill, 2001). Anderson served as the founding president of the American Board of Holistic Medicine, is a past president of the American Holistic Medical Association, former Assistant Clinical Professor of Family Medicine at the University of Washington, and currently Adjunct Instructor in Family Medicine at Bastyr University.

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