Plants, gardens and gardening are now incorporated into healthcare as science “rediscovers” the magic there.

Hospitals are vital for treating illness in today's rapidly urbanizing world, where lifestyle diseases are increasing mortality rates. Researchers are now focused on perfecting healthcare facility layouts within this framework to boost patients’ health and well-being. But how can it be achieved in decreasing green spaces?

There is mounting evidence that healthcare facilities with green areas, often referred to as “healing gardens,” improve patient and medical personnel outcomes. Various types of healing gardens, which are green areas connected to medical facilities, have been used in recent years to treat trauma, cancer, Alzheimer’s disease, and other ailments. Patients in hospitals who have healing gardens report better mental health and a shorter time to discharge, according to studies.

Because nature has been revered as a healer throughout human history, there is a constant quest for the most effective landscape design to enhance health and well-being. Many studies on the “healing garden concept” have emerged since the late 20th century, providing practitioners in various fields, including architecture, with useful design guidelines.

Natural factors, such as sunlight, water features, and vegetation, have been shown to have a favorable effect in healing environments. One study examined the impact of various healing garden layouts, including terraces, courtyards, viewing gardens, and roof gardens, on user engagement and overall well-being. Programs that bring stressed individuals to existing green spaces, patient-specific gardens, outdoor areas for hospital staff, and urban green spaces in potentially stressful locations are all examples given. The result was positive in terms of patient care.

Technology and ecological elements can improve the therapeutic potential of healing gardens and their influence on patients and healthcare professionals, according to research. It seems so obvious that being in a natural environment would be soothing and therefore helpful for our immune system, but science had to help us realize that once again.

Isn't recuperation and a return to health what our immune system was intended to do for us? How could we have been so remiss as to believe that a sterile environment was better than a natural one? Sanitizers, scrubbing, and all the other measures involved in hospitals and institutions removed us from the very thing that would benefit us most–access to nature.

A tried-and-true method for recuperation and health maintenance, now gaining prominence, is horticultural therapy. Since ancient times, the therapeutic effects of garden settings have been documented. Dr. Benjamin Rush, who signed the US Declaration of Independence and is known as the “Father of American Psychiatry,” was the first to record the benefits of gardening for those with mental illness in the 19th century.

Rehabilitative treatment for hospitalized war veterans greatly increased the practice’s adoption in the 1940s and 1950s when horticultural treatment acquired credibility. It was then adopted for a far wider range of diseases and therapeutic alternatives, no longer restricted to treating mental illness. Now it is recognized as a successful therapeutic approach and is being extensively utilized in various community, occupational, and rehabilitation contexts.

But we want some solid evidence, don't we? Well, the evidence is coming in, and it all looks promising. Not only has the idea of being exposed to a natural, green environment been seen as beneficial, but it has even reached the world of architectural design. New skyscrapers in various parts of the world are now being designed with cascades of vines, flower pots, and even trees as part of the entire structure. The world is opening up once again to the idea of bringing the great outdoors closer to us, both at home and in hospitals. And research is supporting all of it.

Horticultural therapy and garden settings have been shown in preliminary trials to reduce pain, increase focus, reduce stress, modulate agitation, limit the need of antipsychotics and other medications when necessary, and reduce falls. This is particularly important for the US and the Republic of Korea since aging is happening at a never-before-seen pace, with Korea seeing some of the biggest rises in its old population globally. Currently, healthcare facilities are reaching out to incorporate specific garden designs into their therapeutic modalities.

With few studies using therapeutic gardens and rehabilitation greenhouses, the majority of studies on garden settings that have been conducted to establish the role of nature as a therapeutic modality in geriatrics have used indoor plants or views of nature. Since there are few controlled clinical studies demonstrating the advantages or disadvantages of using garden settings for rehabilitation of the aging population, a more thorough quantitative examination of the benefits is required. But right now, the future of this type of research is extremely promising based on what we have seen in the past.

The richness of this type of therapy cannot be denied, and in our lives, whether healthy or in the process of healing, greenery is of great benefit. How you incorporate it into your life will provide untold benefits as you relax, separate yourself from the stresses of life, and have an opportunity to literally grow things with your own hands.