If you go around shouting, “Flower power!” in your front yard, your neighbors will probably wonder why they ever moved next door to such a strange hippie. They’ll also scratch their heads while they fruitlessly ponder the last time someone actually said, “Flower power,” to them. While they contemplate the passing decades and reminisce about the 70s, you’ll know the truth: flowers are actually really good for your brain.
Besides just being pretty, flowers actually provide tangible and measurable benefits. They might not be life altering, but in our crazy modern world, every little bit of improvement can have cascading and positive effects. Next time someone comes over to your house and wonders why you have so many assorted vases filled with a cornucopia of flowers, you can tell them that flowers:
Assist Healing
One of the most common times that folks receive flowers is during times of pain. Whether at funerals or the hospital, flowers are a popular choice to help bring a bit of warmth during times of recovery. According to research, having flowers in a hotel room might cut down on the length of time that it takes to recover from major medical procedures.
Reduce Stress
Seeing flowers triggers a response in the human brain that calms it down. Psychologists report that patients with flowers in their home seem to have fewer anxiety attacks and lowered depressed thoughts. One study found that people with flowers in their homes just felt better.
Bring Happiness
Similar to the last point, flowers have been shown to improve overall mood and life satisfaction. In fact, scientists at Rutgers found that flowers are awesome for improving both short and long term happiness! The study found that people who receive flowers are more likely to establish rapport with strangers, and actually brought people closer together.
Help You Work Better
It turns out that flowers aren’t just good for the home; they’re also great for the office! Everyone knows that work environments can be emotionally heavy and stressful, which is why flowers are perfect for helping to lighten the mood. According to a Texas A&M study, “Both male and female participants demonstrated more innovative thinking and generated more ideas and original solutions to problems in the settings with plants and flowers.”
Assist with Color Therapy
According to research, color can elicit certain emotions and feelings by seeing them. For example, the color purple is well known for being calming and uplifting. Yellow is associated with happiness, and blue elicits calmness and tranquility. Since flowers are nature’s most vibrant color bearers, it’s easy to see why they’re so valuable in color therapy. They’re the perfect expression of human emotion in delightful plant form.
Whether you’re looking to improve your work life, or you just want to feel a little bit happier every day, surrounding yourself with flowers is an small yet impactful change you can make. You don’t have to wait for a funeral or hospitalization to take advantage of this magical phenomenon--you just have to get a couple of vases and take a trip to the garden center! You also don’t have to shout, “Flower power!” at your neighbors to take advantage of the benefits.
