Your most-loved house plants and flowers have a lot to offer, from their sweet fragrances to their marvelous petals and colors and even their inspiring symbolism. Here at Wishing Well Flowers & Gifts, the top florist in West Linn, OR, our customers love displaying flowers in their homes and giving them to loved ones for special celebrations or just to make them smile. However, there is more to Mother Nature’s gifts than meets the eye. Our experts are exploring the health benefits of incorporating flowers into your self-care routine and everyday life. Learn how some of your favorite plants and blooms have the ability to improve emotional and mental health, boost productivity, and even speed up recovery time after an illness.
9 Benefits of Having Plants and Flowers in Your Home
Flowers Make People Happy
Is there anyone who doesn’t smile upon receiving a gift of beautiful flowers? Now we know flowers have the ability to keep that smile around for longer and more. Behavioral research studies conducted at Harvard, Rutgers, and Texas A&M have shown that flowers can make people happier, promote feelings of compassion, and improve energy. This study went on to state that flowers also have the ability to induce immediate feelings of happiness and delight, promote long-term mood-boosting effects, and reduce feelings of depression, anxiety, and agitation. If you have someone to whom you’d like to bring joy, flowers are clearly the perfect, science-backed gift.
Flowers Decrease Stress
The sight of flowers makes us smile, and the scent of flowers can make us relax and less anxious, too. Breathing in the sweet fragrance of flowers has a relaxing and stress-reducing effect, and it’s well-researched that flowers bring moments of tranquility and calm. Plus, there are several studies linking reduced stress with flowers, including one from the University of North Florida that showed women who received flowers had a statistically significant reduction in stress levels.
Plants Improve Memory & Concentration
Studies show performing tasks and projects under the peaceful and relaxing influence of nature yielded better results. Having plants in the workplace or at home has a positive effect on increasing one’s memory and concentration. Studies also show work completed in an area with fresh greenery is more likely to be of higher quality and more accurate than work performed in an environment devoid of greenery.
Plants & Flowers Can Enhance Learning in Kids
Research shows children who have natural, fresh plants and flowers in their learning environment have enhanced learning capabilities. The effects of being around nature help them to focus and concentrate, making it easier for them to absorb and retain new information. Additionally, children with Attention Deficit Disorder tend to have improved focus and concentration and engage more with their surrounding environment when it’s filled with living plants and flowers.
Plants & Flowers Promote Productivity
Whether working from home or in a cubicle, make it a point to have a vase of fresh flowers or a thriving plant in your workspace to help increase your productivity. Being in nature, or having natural elements around you, helps increase your vitality and levels of energy which, in turn, makes you a better worker. Plants and flowers have also been shown to stimulate innovation and creativity leading to increased productivity.
Flowers Help You Start the Day on a High Note
Place a vase of flowers on your bedstand, by the coffeemaker, or near the front door, so you see it before you leave in the morning and benefit from the immediate boost of happiness they provide. Flowers can jumpstart your positive mood – which can last all day long.
Plants & Flowers Improve Relationships
Research shows people who spend a lot of time around plants benefit from increased feelings of compassion and empathy for others. It’s also been shown that when people spend more time around plants, they are more likely to try and help others. In short, the “green” benefits of having ornamental plants around can improve relationships between people.
Plants and Flowers Improve Emotional Health
Research conducted at Rutgers found that flowers generate happy emotions and strengthen feelings of overall life satisfaction far beyond what was initially believed. In an article in Psychology Today, Dr. Jonathan S. Kaplan suggests plants and flowers reduce stress because of the distraction from life and the improved air quality they provide. Another study shows that just the pleasant fragrance of flowers can reduce stress.
Flowers Enhance the Well-Being of Seniors
Flowers can improve common age-related concerns by decreasing depression, inspiring contact with friends and family, and slowing memory loss among the elderly. Flowers make people happy, and happier people live healthier and longer lives.
Well, the science is in, and it looks like a prescription from Mother Nature in the form of plants and flowers can do a world of good for everyone’s well-being. We can’t think of a more natural or more beautiful way to relieve anxiety, reduce stress, improve health, uplift spirits, and promote energy than by surrounding ourselves with plants and flowers.
Local flower shops, like Wishing Well Flowers and Gifts, are uniquely qualified to deliver the freshest and highest quality flowers and plants to help you live your best and happiest life. Enhance your home and your life with these gorgeous flowers.
