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Health Benefits of Gardening......

This a great way to get exercise once or twice a week. If your lawn is too big to cut without a rider, set aside a portion of your lawn for a push mower.

  • Plan a daily gardening activity. Of course, people living in colder climates need to be creative. If you use a snow thrower, shovel a portion of your driveway. When buying seeds or other easily carried items at a garden center, park your car a mile away and walk.

  • Vary your activities. Don't let one activity consume you, or you'll pay for it later. Break up strenuous gardening chores with more moderate and enjoyable activities. For example, break up a session of post-hole digging with some quiet weeding or transplanting.

  • Count the minutes. Make sure the total daily time of garden activities adds up to 30 minutes. Each activity should last at least 8 minutes. If you've been inactive, build up to the 30-minute total gradually.

  • Dig holes. Digging and shoveling are big calorie burners (250 to 350 calories per half-hour). Each depends on the muscles of the legs and stomach, arms and shoulders, and neck and back.

  • Make a compost pile. If you've been thinking about starting a compost pile, now there's another good reason to do it. Turning compost burns 250 to 300 calories per half-hour.

  • Listen to your muscles. Pay attention to the muscles that are working for you, as well as to your exertion levels. If you can increase your range of motion or safely add weight or resistance to a garden activity, give it a try. But whatever you do, don't use your back.

Calories Burned During Common Gardening Activities:
 
The following chart gives the calories burned during 30 minutes of the activity for a 180-pound person. Generally, a person who weighs more will burn more calories than the amount shown here. Likewise, a person weighing less burns fewer calories.
  
Typical calories burned in 30 minutes of:

  • Sleeping 36
  • Sitting quietly 40
  • Watering lawn or garden 61
  • Mowing lawn (riding) 101
  • Trimming shrubs (power) 142
  • Raking 162
  • Bagging leaves 162
  • Planting seedlings 162
  • Mowing (push with motor) 182
  • Planting trees 182
  • Snow thrower (walking) 182
  • Trimming shrubs (manual) 182
  • Weeding 182
  • Clearing land 202
  • Digging, spading, tilling 202
  • Laying sod 202
  • General gardening 202
  • Chopping wood 243
  • Gardening with heavy powertools 243
  • Mowing lawn (push mower) 243
  • Shoveling snow 243
  • Double digging 344
  • Shoveling heavy snow 364

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