Older gardeners have more zest for life

COLLEGE STATION, Texas, March 19 (UPI) -- Older gardeners have more zest for life, perhaps because as gardeners they are more likely to plan a month or a year in advance, U.S. researchers suggest.

Aime Sommerfeld, Jayne Zajicek and Tina Waliczek of Texas A&M and Texas State universities conducted a survey of people age 50 and older, which indicates more than 84 percent of gardeners agreed with the statement, "I have made plans for things I'll be doing a month or a year from now" compared with 68 percent of non-gardeners.

Sommerfeld and colleagues designed a survey based on the Life Satisfaction Inventory, a tool that measures five components of quality of life: zest for life; resolution and fortitude; congruence between desired and achieved goals; physical, psychological and social self-concept; and optimism.

The researchers say there were significant differences in overall life satisfaction scores, with gardeners receiving higher mean scores for the Life Satisfaction Inventory than non-gardeners.

In addition, significant differences between gardeners and non-gardeners were also noted in the energy level statement, "I feel old and somewhat tired" -- 70.9 percent of the gardeners disagreed versus 57.3 percent of non-gardeners disagreed, while 38 percent of gardeners considered themselves to be very active compared with 19.6 percent of non-gardeners.

The findings are published in the journal HortTechnology.