When I was a teenager, my parents got me a job “gardening.” Well, it was mostly just weed pulling at well-to-do homes in Crowley where we lived. The gardens seemed endless and the Acadia Parish heat, unbearable. I credit that employment with my motivation to get an education that would allow me to work in air conditioning.
I have enjoyed decades of air-conditioned working. I find, however, when I need to take a break from pounding a keyboard or working the phones, I put on my old clothes and work in my yard. After a couple of hours, with dirty hands and sweaty t-shirt, I feel rested. Weird, right?
I think I may have found an answer. I read this article this morning: Antidepressant Microbes In Soil: How Soil Makes Your Brain Happy
“Soil microbes have been found to have similar effects on the brain as prozac, without the negative side effects and potential for chemical dependency and withdrawal.
It turns out getting in the garden and getting dirty is a natural antidepressant due to unique microbes in healthy organic soil. Working and playing in soil can actually make you happier and healthier.
What gardeners and farmers have talked about for millennia is now verifiable by science. Feeling like your garden or farm is your happy place is no coincidence!
The soil microbe mycobacterium vaccae has been found to mirror the effect on neurons in the brain that drugs like Prozac can provide, but without side effects.
This bacterium is found in healthy soil and when humans are exposed to it, the microbe stimulates serotonin production. Serotonin makes us feel relaxed and happier.
Conversely, lack of serotonin has been linked to depression, anxiety, OCD, and bipolar disorders.”
Who would have believed it? I certainly didn’t get any good feelings digging in the dirt as a teenager. Why now? Perhaps this explains why so many of us “semi-retired” take up gardening in our golden years. Maybe this explains how farmers and other “dirt workers” seem to live so long. Is that why little kids love to play in the dirt? The government will probably fund studies to address these questions.
It is exciting to consider that when God tossed Adam and Eve out of the garden leaving them to make a living out of working the soil, he placed some little microbes in the dirt to help them stay happy and to banish depression or as we would call it today, “Post Eden Syndrome.”
Enough of this typing. The sun is coming up. Maybe I can get some dirt play in before I have to wash my hands and go to work.
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