In all blue zones, people continue to garden even into their 90s and 100s. Gardening is the epitome of a blue zones activity because it’s sort of a nudge: You plant the seeds and you’re going to be nudged in the next three to four months to water the plants, weed them, harvest them. Gardening also provides low-intensity range-of- motion exercise, vitamin D from the sun, and fresh vegetables and herbs.
Watering plants burns about the same number of calories as stretching and walking. Studies show that working with plants can also reduce psychological and physiological stress4.
We recommend that you plant a garden in your yard, start a container garden on your patio, cultivate an indoor herb garden on your windowsill, or add indoor plants to your home. For indoor plants that are easy to maintain, try a golden pothos vine or a spider plant. Besides their ability to clean the air, indoor plants have been proved to provide health benefits to people who interact with them. And because plants are permanent, you’ll be nudged to nurture them daily.
