Gardening for hearts & minds guide

Author: Thrive
Number of pages: 18 
Date of Publication: 2008
This guide is printed on thick laminated card and wiro-bound so each page flips over to give a landscape view.
 
Please note that the guide is free to NHS patients within England if ordered through their local NHS heart or stroke health professional.

Gardening at home can be a good way to get your life back after a stroke or if you are living with heart disease. Thrive’s programme, Just 30!, gives practical and helpful gardening advice and was created with funding from the Department of Health, and advice from The Stroke Association and British Heart Foundation.

The guide shows how just 30 minutes of gardening a day can help recovery. It has a series of easy-to-follow, step-by-step progressive gardening activities, which are divided into levels 1, 2 and 3. Here are comments from people who have tried some of the Just 30! gardening activities:

"When I started I couldn’t move my hands or fingers, doing gardening gets your hands moving again"

"I think it’s one of the best ideas I’ve come across. Even if sitting in a wheelchair and can only use one hand, you still do something. Tip out a packet of seeds in a pot!"

The activities will help build up strength and stamina, relax muscles, improve balance and movement, keep the heart healthy, burn calories and best of all make you feel good!

You can download a free copy of the gardening for hearts & minds guide from Thrive's website. Find out more and download a copy