Gardening in autumn: raking leaves counts as exercise

General information, not medical advice. If you have back, heart or joint problems, build up garden work gradually and ask your GP or physiotherapist for advice if in doubt.

Gardening in autumn is more than a chore that needs doing. Raking leaves, weeding and mowing the lawn one last time count as real exercise. That is clear from the MET values in the Compendium of Physical Activities and from the explanation of moderate-intensity activity by the Flemish institute Gezond Leven. Below you can read what that means, what research says about gardening and your health and how to spare your back.

Gardening in autumn: how much effort it takes

Effort is often expressed in METs. According to Gezond Leven, 1 MET corresponds to the energy you use at rest. Moderate-intensity activity has a MET value of 3 to 6. The higher the number, the more energy an activity takes.

The Compendium of Physical Activities is an international list of the energy cost of activities. Raking the lawn or leaves with moderate effort is listed at 4.0 METs. Gezond Leven also gives raking in the garden 4.0 METs and mentions it as an example of moderate-intensity activity in daily life. In the same table, walking at 5 kilometres per hour comes to 3.5 METs and calmly climbing the stairs to 4.0 METs. Raking therefore takes more energy than walking at that pace and as much as calmly climbing the stairs.

Other garden work counts too, although it varies by task. The Compendium gives gardening in general 2.0 METs, gardening with moderate effort 3.8 METs, weeding with moderate effort 4.5 METs and mowing with a walk-behind power mower 5.0 METs. Light garden work therefore stays below the moderate-intensity threshold, while raking, weeding and mowing fall within it.

You can tell for yourself whether you are working at moderate intensity. According to Gezond Leven, you breathe faster, your heart beats faster and you can still talk, but singing a song becomes harder. That resembles zone 2, a calm endurance pace at which you can just about keep up a conversation. Garden work also fits the advice to sit less.

What research says about gardening and your health

In a 2017 meta-analysis, a study that pools the results of earlier studies, Soga and colleagues combined 22 case studies. Gardening was linked to favourable health outcomes, such as less depression and anxiety, a lower BMI (the ratio between weight and height) and greater life satisfaction. The average effect was 0.42. The researchers did find signs of publication bias. This means that studies with a favourable result are published more often, which can make the picture look too rosy. After correction, the effect remained. A link also does not tell you what is cause and what is effect.

Three volunteers work together in a community vegetable garden, harvesting leeks in autumn

In a randomised trial, in which a draw decides who goes into which group, Litt and colleagues divided 291 adults in the United States into two groups in 2023. Those who were given a plot in a community garden ate on average 1.41 grams more fibre per day than the control group. They also did 5.80 minutes more moderate to vigorous activity per day, although that difference was not statistically certain. The researchers found no effect on BMI, waist circumference or fruit and vegetable intake. Stress and anxiety did fall more in the garden group.

So gardening is not a miracle cure. It is, however, a realistic way to move more.

How to spare your back when raking

Raking involves repeated movements. As a general guideline, it helps to:

A father lifts a full bag of leaves with bent knees while his daughter holds the bag open

warm up with a short walk around the garden before you start;
choose a rake with a long handle, so you can stay upright;
work from your legs and shift your weight instead of twisting from your lower back;
alternate between raking, weeding and sweeping;
bend your knees when you lift a bag of leaves;
take regular breaks and stop when your back gets tired.

If you want to strengthen the muscles in your legs and trunk, strength training for beginners offers a gentle start. Garden work is also just one way to exercise outdoors in autumn and winter.