Eco-Friendly is Health Friendly!
Being a family physician by training, I tend to look at all things from the health point of view. Nevertheless, I think many house owners do the same for the simple reason that “Health is the greatest Wealth”, as quoted by a great philosopher about 2,500 years ago. Yet, the way I look at it may be very different from an ordinary layperson.
Try visualizing yourself coming back from a hard day work with multitude of problems lingering in your mind. You take a cup of coffee, head towards your green pond, sit comfortably on a raised concrete platform overlooking the school of beautiful fishes swimming freely and happily in the crystal-clear water. Resting your left arm lazily on the slightly raised edge of the large fish pond with your tired eyes gazing on the greenery of banana and guava trees growing on the small islets of the pond, you could hear and watch the rhythmic tapping of water droplets from the hydroponic green-wall onto the surface of the pond. The multitude concentric waves that arise and spread gently over the surface of the crystal-clear water caress and serenade your tired nerve and mind. You rest your stiff and tired back comfortably on the cool concrete wall that supported another system of roof-top garden just over and behind you with bougainvillea's canopy of leaves and flowers casting a much desired cool shade over you. The air molecules acquire negative ions after bouncing repeatedly from the leaves and water into the ample space of the garden. These negatively charged ions that come into contact with your skin and lungs gradually refresh and revitalize your body and mind.
What do I gained from all these? Well, certainly this is a very relaxing, refreshing environment that is certainly de-stressing. Researchers have proven that views of greenery, fish swimming as well as rhythmic sound of water droplets effectively de-stress our mind and even lower our blood pressure.
We may not be aware that the fresh air in the vicinity is a result of the lush greenery and fresh pond that is bio-filtered by the roots of the plants. The air is well humidified and effectively cooled by the evaporating pond and evapo-tranpiration of water vapour through millions of stoma pores of the great number of leaves.
Plants are also known to remove numerous harmful gases collectively known as VOCs that is known to cause dizziness, nausea, headache and feeling of shortness of breath.
Speaking through direct experience, I must say that the highest benefit that one can acquire from a garden house is the direct participation in what I called the “interactive gardening”. When you labour with passion, you don’t feel you are labouring. You only feel happy doing it. You will also rejoice seeing the plants growing well and compliment you with bountiful beautiful blooms and sometimes edible fruits. You are also exercising, stretching your muscles, mobilizing your joints and exposing yourself to an optimal amount of sunshine to generate enough vitamin D to keep your bones strong and firm.
Last but not least, less stress also means lesser likelihood of getting heart attack, cancer, depression, anxiety and all forms of psychosomatic problems.
