STUDY REVEALS A SURPRISING HEALTH BENEFIT FOR PEOPLE WHO GARDEN — AND IT’S NOT JUST ABOUT FRUITS AND VEGGIES
- Researchers from the University of Colorado Boulder completed what the school touted as the “first-ever randomized controlled trial” looking at the health effects of community gardening. The results were published in The Lancet Planetary Health journal.
- Research led by JIll Litt, professor of enivornmental studies.
Why dirt may be nature’s original stress-buster
- Research led by Christopher Lowry, professor of integrative physiology.
- Lowry has spent 19+ years studying the impact beneficial microorganisms have on mental health.
- He found that people who grow up in rural areas are more resilient to the physical impacts of stress, and injections of soil-derived microorganisms in animals quell brain inflammation and prevent stress-induced digestive disorders.
- Someday he hopes to develop a “stress vaccine.”