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" Older people who do gardening enjoy a number of health benefits such as improved hand strength, new research in HortScience journal has found. Researchers at Kansas State University discovered that people who regularly spent time working in the garden benefited from improvements in a number of areas, including overall physical health, self-esteem and hand strength. Candice Shoemaker, professor of horticulture at the university, commented: &amp;#039;One of the things we found is that older adults who are gardeners have better hand strength and pinch force, which is a big concern as you age. &amp;#039;If we had a larger sample I think we would see more health differences between those who garden and those who don&amp;#039;t, including in areas like sleep quality and life satisfaction,&amp;#039; she added. Physical activity is known to be important for people as they age, but many elderly people wrongly believe they are unable to do any form of exercise. Professor Shoemaker said that if older people are made aware that they can gain health benefits from gardening, &amp;#039;they&amp;#039;ll realise that they don&amp;#039;t have to walk around the mall to get exercise&amp;#039;. Official figures show that there were 20 million over-50s in the UK in 2003 and this is expected to increase by 36 per cent by 2031. "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.netdoctor.co.uk/healthy-living/news/a17714/gardening-provides-health-benefits-for-older-people/>