Effects Of Horticulture Therapy On Physical And Mental Health Of The Elderly People

Horticultural therapy is an effective way to maintain and restore the body and the spirit of the people through the plant, plant growth environment and related activities, and to improve the quality of life. Horticultural therapy has a significant effect on physical and mental health of the elderly.The research to the elderly in the 5 nursing homes which have green garden in Dongying City of Shandong Province as the research object, the age of the elderly is over 65 years old, which have no major disease and have basic exercise capacity, and voluntarily participated in the test and test, then randomly selected 180 elderly people, the number of men is 90, and women are the same.Through the design of the experimental group in 8 months of horticultural therapy activities, including flowers, vegetables, such as picking, measuring physical and psychological indicators, compared with the control group, researching on horticultural therapy on the physical and mental health of the elderly people improving. Through 8 months of horticultural therapy, the physical and psychological aspects of the elderly have been significantly improved. The results are as follows:1. The effect of horticultural therapy on body shape, activity ability, heart and lung function, blood glucose and blood lipid in the elderlyBody shape, participating in the trial of the elderly in weight, waist circumference, hip circumference, waist circumference values are reduced, before and after the test weight are 65.74 kg, 65.23 kg; hip circumference were 96.27 cm, 95.42 cm; waist circumference were 81.13 cm, 80.58 cm. BMI(body mass index) and WHR(waist to hip ratio) in the test than before after the test were reduced, the test values were 23.6, 23.4 and 0.84, 0.84. Activity in horticultural therapy activities of the elderly mobility and balance ability is enhanced, and numerical respectively 16.5 s, 16.1 s; numerical grip in the test is increased, and numerical is 162.7 N, 168.2 N, and the difference was significant; 2 min walk numerical distance in the test after than before the test has increased, and numerical test before and after values were 58.2 m, 60.5 m, and the difference was significant. Heart and lung function, oxygen saturation of older people in the trial before and after the numerical difference significantly were 0.94, 0.96; In quiet time, the heart rate is 63.21 times /min, 62.33 times /min before and after the test; systolic blood pressure in the test after than before the test increased slightly, the values before and after respectively 18.22 k Pa, 18.64 k Pa; after the test, the diastolic blood pressure was decreased compared with that before the experiment, before and after the test, the numerical value was 11.94 k Pa, 11.71 k Pa. Vital capacity before and after the experiment are 2634 ml, 2673 ml; VC index(i.e. vital capacity index = vital capacity(ml) / body weight(kg)) before and after the experiment are 38.88, 39.76. Blood glucose and blood lipids, blood glucose before and after the test were 5.45 mmol/L of blood sugar, 5.31 mmol/L, there is a significant difference. Lipids in test before and after the index are serum total cholesterol was 4.96 mmol / L, 4.41 mmol / L; serum triglyceride 1.35 mmol / L, 1.29 mmol / L; low density lipoprotein cholesterol 3.02 mmol / L, 2.87 mmol / L, and high density lipoprotein cholesterol values before and after the test are 1.27 mmol / L, 1.30 mmol / L.2. The effect of horticultural therapy on memory and mood of the elderlyMemory, after eight months of horticultural therapy activities, the results of the survey show that memory in the elderly people in the trial before testing increased, and there was a significant difference, before test and after test figures were 63.24 and 66.36. Emotion, participating in the trial of the elderly anxiety indicators and indicators of depression after the experiment value than before the test have increased, and there was a significant difference, numerical anxiety index before and after the experiment were 11.73 and 11.27; numerical indicators of depression before and after experiment were 13.91 and 13.06. Horticultural therapy can reduce the psychological pressure of the elderly, can effectively reduce the depression and anxiety, improve their physical and mental health.3. The effect of horticultural therapy on the index of general well-being of the elderlyThe control group of the elderly life satisfaction, health status, friendly relations, vitality index did not participate in the activities of horticultural therapy, there is no significant difference before and after the experiment, and through 8 months of horticultural therapy activities, participate in the test of elderly health status indicators in the test after the test has increased, and before the experiment after the experiment values were 1.75 and 2.04; life satisfaction index, numerical index and vigor index of friendly relations of life after the experiment than before the experiment all increase, and there is a significant difference between the life satisfaction index before and after the test value is 3.76 and 4.61; before and after the test index values for the friendly relations between 4.30 and 5.11; vitality index test the value for the 2.47 and 2.77 before and after. Horticultural therapy activities for the elderly to participate in activities to re discover their own values, enhance the confidence of life, enhance the ability to communicate, to re ignite the confidence in the life of old age.The results of this study showed that the activity of horticultural therapy has a significant improvement on the physical and mental health of the elderly. The horticultural therapy activities can enrich the enjoyment of life of the elderly, and improve the physical quality of the old people, to improve the physical and mental state of the elderly, promote the recovery of the body functions of the elderly, to improve the quality of life, so that the elderly more optimistic in the face of life in old age.