The Wellness Benefits of Flowers
If you are a regular reader of our blog, you love flowers and have probably experienced that lift that comes from fresh flowers. This goes beyond the visual charm. Research shows that flowers have the ability to also reduces stress, speed healing, enhance concentration, and improve mood. Here is a recap of what the science community has to say about the wellness benefits of flowers. The links to the research papers are included in the underlined text below.
“1. Flowers Generate Happiness. Having flowers around the home and office greatly improves people’s moods and reduces the likelihood of stress-related depression. Flowers and ornamental plants increase levels of positive energy and help people feel secure and relaxed.
According to a 2005 study by professors from Rutgers and La Salle universities, flowers have “immediate and long-term effects on emotional reactions, mood, social behaviors, and even memory for both males and females.”
Keeping flowers around the home and in the workplace greatly reduces a person’s stress levels. Natural aesthetic beauty is soothing to people, and keeping ornamental flowers around the home environment is an excellent way to lower levels of stress and anxiety. People who keep flowers in their home feel happier, less stressed, and more relaxed. As a result of the positive energy they derive from the environment, the chances of suffering from stress-related depression are decreased as well. Overall, adding flowers to your home or work environment reduces your perceived stress levels and makes you feel more relaxed, secure, and happy. Flowers can help you achieve a more optimistic outlook on your life, bringing you both pleasing visual stimulation and helping you to increase your perceived happiness. (Brethour 2007, Collins 2008, Dunnet 2000, Etcoff 2007, Frank 2003, Haviland-Jones 2005, Hartig 2010, McFarland 2010, Rappe 2005, Waliczek 2000)”
“2. Accelerates Healing Process. The presence of plants in hospital recovery rooms and/or views of aesthetically-pleasing gardens help patients to heal faster, due to the soothing affects of ornamental horticulture.
Another study found that people recovering from surgery who have plants or flowers in their hospital room have better health outcomes and report lower feelings of pain, anxiety, and fatigue.
Shrubs, trees, and flowers have a practical application in hospitals: the presence of plants in patient recovery rooms greatly reduces the time necessary to heal. The soothing effects of ornamental flowers and plants are so great that simply having daily views of flowers and other ornamental plants in landscaped areas outside patient recovery room significantly speed up recovery time. Another technique to decrease recovery time is horticulture therapy, where patients care for and nurture plants themselves. Patients who physically interact with plants experience a significantly reduced recovery time after medical procedures. (Brethour 2007, Frank 2003, Friend 2008, Lohr 2000, Park, 2009, Pennsylvania Landscape and Nursery Assn. 2009, Ulrich 1984)”
“3. Reduce Stress. Studies show that people who spend time gardening have less stress in their lives. Plants soothe human beings and provide a positive way for people to channel their stress into nurturing.
Participation in gardening and landscaping activities is an effective way to reduce levels of stress. Studies have shown that people who nurture plants and garden have less mental distress than others. Gardening provides people with a positive way to channel their stress and frustration into something beautiful that provides them with comfort and joy. Part of the effects of gardening come from the satisfaction people get from nurturing and helping a living thing grow. Plants and gardening soothe people because they help them turn their stressful feelings into something positive which gives them pleasure. By helping them transform their stress into a more positive emotion, gardening also gives people an excellent coping mechanism for their daily frustrations. Nurturing plants reduces stress levels and gives people a way to cope with their negative feelings. (Mitchell, 2008, Brethour 2007, Bringslimark 2007, Frank 2003, Kohlleppel 2002, McFarland 2010, Pohmer 2008, Ulrich 1991, Waliczek 2000)”
“Flowers lower stress levels and anxiety in people,” says Christine Capra, program manager at the Horticultural Therapy Institute in Denver. “Even stress levels related to depression are decreased by having flowers, whether it’s in your outdoor garden or in your home or going to visit a botanic garden.”
“4. Concentration and Memory. Being around plants helps people concentrate better in the home and workplace. Studies show that tasks performed while under the calming influence of nature are performed better and with greater accuracy, yielding a higher quality result. Moreover, being outside in a natural environment can improve memory performance and attention span by twenty percent. (Also part of the Rutgers study, noted above).
Keeping ornamental plants in the home and in the workplace increases memory retention and concentration. The calming influence of natural environments is conducive to positive work environments by increasing a person’s ability to concentrate on the task at hand. Work performed under the natural influence of ornamental plants is normally of higher quality and completed with a much higher accuracy rate than work done in environments devoid of nature. Going outside or being under the influence of plants can increase memory retention up to twenty percent, a recent University of Michigan study showed (Sewach). The effect of nature in the home and in the workplace serves to stimulate both the senses and the mind, improving mental cognition and performance. (Bisco Werner 1996; Brethour 2007; Frank 2003; Pohmer 2008; Serwach 2008; Shibata, 2001, 2004; Yannick 2009)”
So, to sum it up, if you want to feel better or make someone else happier, get some flowers!
References
https://ellisonchair.tamu.edu/health-and-well-being-benefits-of-plants/
https://www.shondaland.com/live/body/a44131237/embrace-the-mental-health-benefits-of-flowers/
https://www.med.unc.edu/psych/cecmh/services/recovery-services/horticulture-therapy-program/
Best,
Linda
Happy Mother's Day!
This is my mom and her mom. I took this picture with a Kodak Instamatic camera when color photos were something of a novelty. I still have the picture but the camera is long gone.
Mom had picked me up from college for summer break. We then met my grandmother and went to visit her sister, my great aunt. I felt so privileged to be on this adventure, without my siblings or our father. Just me with these wise and caring women who influenced me greatly in positive ways.
My grandmother set a formal table and manners were de rigueur with her. She also loved to bake cookies and had me in the kitchen at an early age. Madeleines and pizzelles were two of her favorites. Baking suited her personality more than it does mine, patience and precision being two of her strengths. She also had a master’s degree in French, unusual for her generation.
Mom was a teacher, through and through. She instilled a love of learning in me by example. She was always game to explore, to try something new. She studied things she was interested in and was always exposing me to things she thought I would like to learn about. Mom loved fashion and read Women’s Wear Daily. She could sew and knit beautifully. I love fashion too, which is somewhat amusing since I spend most of my time now in camping shirts and garden boots.
Mom would be happy to know that I am still learning. The passion for growing beautiful flowers is only part of the equation. You also have to study diligently to learn what is required to get the conditions right for each type of flower. I remember my grandmother’s patience as I wait to harvest them at the optimal time.
I am so happy that they shared their gifts and talents with me, enabling me to apply their shared wisdom to my own life. The joy my grandmother shared when the cookies were done, or that my mother shared when she finished a sweater that she had knit for me were such great examples of life well lived. I experience that same joy when I harvest flowers that have come to their most beautiful point and share them with the community.
Hoping that you have warm memories of your mother or are planning to do something special with your mother to celebrate that special bond.
1 Corinthians 13:13
13 And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.
Wishing you all a Happy Mother’s Day!