Dig Up Good Feelings

Jun 04, 10:49 AM

Current Headlines: By Morgan Chilson

By Morgan Chilson

SPECIAL TO THE CAPITAL-JOURNAL

Plunging your hands into a bag of potting soil or enlivening the landscape with splotches of spring color may do as much for your mood as it does for the environment.

The field of horticultural therapy studies the effects plants have on people. This includes everything from enhancing mood by having a single plant in a room to a recent study by British researchers who found that good bacteria in soil may affect the brain in ways similar to antidepressants.

Dr. Richard Mattson, professor of horticultural therapy at Kansas State University, said scientific advances have allowed researchers to measure the body's response to stimuli and pinpoint what happens when people are exposed to plants.

"We're finding that there are changes that happen when we are in the presence of plants," he said. "The brain is working, the autonomic nervous system is involved. We're also finding that some of these changes are affecting our immune system."

One study found that within 40 minutes of gardening, there were changes in the chemicals in saliva that affect the immune system, Mattson said. Another study measured blood pressure and heart rate as people entered and then left a botanical garden. Both rates decreased, which was especially notable given they walked through the garden, an exercise that normally would have increased blood pressure and heart rate.

"I think the evidence is pretty strong that healthwise, there are changes affecting our perception of the environment, the way our minds looks at objects, affecting our sensory system - these are translated into things that make us healthier," Mattson said.

Horticultural therapist Georgia Abbott sees the effects of plants daily in her work at Topeka's Colmery-O'Neil VA Medical Center. She described her work as like art or music therapy, using horticulture as the modality for therapy.

"As a known profession, it's one of the younger ones," she said. "K-State was the first university in the United States to have a degree curriculum."

K-State and Rutgers University in New Jersey are the only ones to offer bachelor's and master's programs, according to the American Horticultural Therapy Association. Menninger, formerly of Topeka, also pioneered studies, Abbott said.

In her work, Abbott assesses the veteran to see what his or her interests are, then determines what kind of horticulture work can be done to match those interests and physical abilities.

"Being in this area, a lot of people are from farming communities and have that type of background," she said. "Somebody will say they haven't mowed a lawn in ages. Everybody's allowed to choose."

Different tasks can help with fine and gross motor control, Abbott said. Eye-hand coordination frequently are improved by tasks such as pulling weeds. Patients have lost weight because of the increased activity, too.

The work not only has the researched effects on the body but also can reconnect people with good memories, Abbott said. Some patients recall gardening iris with their grandmothers and ask to weed the iris bed.

Horticultural options at the VA are plenty, from planting to weeding to caring for koi in a pond. A 30- by 100-foot greenhouse allows for gardening all year, and in the spring and summer, there are outdoor vegetable gardens, container gardening, a pond, birds to care for and all the activities that go into keeping a campus green. Patients also have designed walkways, stained park benches and even used grapevine to create wreaths.

"Everybody needs to feel worthwhile, like they're doing something worthwhile," Abbott said of her program. "The social benefits, the intellectual, the psychological, the physical - you're working on something. Especially with horticulture, it's a media that has to be taken care of. People gain an awareness of the outside world, they learn new skills. They accept responsibility."

Morgan Chilson is a freelance writer living in Shawnee County. She may be reached at morgan@exactlywrite.net.

(c) 2007 Topeka Capital Journal. Provided by ProQuest Information and Learning. All rights Reserved.