Dan Buettner is an explorer of the world’s rare ‘Blue Zones’, where residents are reportedly 10 times more likely to reach 100 years old than ‘average’ citizens of the United States
Working out at the gym can feel like a lot of effort – even if we know that exercise is crucial to staying healthy. Yet, one expert now claims that a low-intensity hobby will keep you fitter than you might expect – and it’s good news for green-thumbed fanatics.
Dan Buettner, 64, is a seasoned explorer of the world’s rare ‘Blue Zones’, where residents are reportedly 10 times more likely to reach 100 years old than ‘average’ citizens of the United States. In a recent TikTok post (@danbuettner), he argued that the longest-living people are more likely to garden, linking this to decreased stress and increased movement.
“After 20 years of looking at the world’s longest-living people, I can tell you beyond a shadow of a doubt, the best physical activity there is, is gardening,” Dan told his 152k followers. “Why? Because it’s a range of motion, stress levels go down, you get slightly winded.
“And because you planted these vegetables and you want to see them grow and you want to eat them, it gives you an impetus to do it every day. To water, weed or harvest every day.
“And when it comes to longevity, if it’s not something you’re going to do a lot for a long time, forget about it. Plant a garden and we’ll see you when you’re 100.”
Dan certainly isn’t alone in his thoughts either. Kieran Sheridan, a UAE-based physiotherapist, previously told the Mirror that you can burn a surprising number of calories while working in the garden.
However, for this to ‘count’ as a workout, you’d need to do a few specific tasks. “According to CDC, you can burn about 300 calories with just 45 minutes of gardening,” he explained at the time.
“Planting and potting for an hour can also burn 200-300 calories. It targets a lot of muscle groups because of all the strenuous physical activity – such as planting, watering, even digging and lifting fertilizer bags.”
For some perspective, if you weigh around 10 stone, you’d burn about 258 calories an hour if walking on a treadmill at a brisk pace of 3.5mph, according to Very Well Fit. Increase your speed to 6mph, and the calorie burn soars to 680 per hour.
Kieran explained that gardening involves numerous muscle groups, including those in your buttocks, abdomen, back, legs and arms. The act of digging will likely torch the most calories as it engages many of these groups simultaneously.
He went on: “It’s also required to stretch first to build your strength before gardening and also to avoid cramps and overworking the muscles after gardening. These gardening tasks also helps burn calories just like a simple exercise would do.
“I advise mixing things up when gardening. You can’t do one task alone because it could strain your muscles. For example, just planting and carrying bags of mulch will be physically straining, which can lead to injuries and body pain. I’d suggest doing other tasks such as pulling weeds and raking.”