Flowers are affectionately called Vitamin F and rightly so. They make everything a little brighter, cheerier and beautiful. They are a healthy dose of happiness wrapped up in pretty colors and patterns. It’s long been known that receiving flowers boosts our moods, but what researchers didn’t know was that living with fresh flowers also had a positive impact on our well-being. If you ever needed a reason to buy yourself flowers, I have ten reasons for you.
As Dr. Haviland-Jones, researcher for Rutgers University, said, “Flowers bring about positive feelings in those that enter a room. They make a space more welcoming and create a sharing atmosphere.” I couldn’t agree more.
Spark Joy
Flowers add a positive boost to your morning routine. The morning blahs, it turns out, are real with happiness, warmth and friendliness may emerging later in the day. Instead of waking up grumpy, nip it in bud by placing small bouquets in the bathroom, on your nightstand or in the kitchen. Researchers found that by placing blooms in the middle of a morning routine, they would spark of joy lasting the rest of the day. In most cases, others will adopt your cheery mood in what scientists refer to as mood contagion. Is there a better way to spread joy?
Inspire Neatness
One study discovered flowers placed where clutter tends to collect inspire neatness. Flowers are a thing of beauty and, well, clutter is unattractive. Of course, if there were an option to look at pretty petals instead of paper piles, most of us would pick pretty petals. I know I would be inclined to keep the clutter out of the space.
Flowers Feed Compassion
In today’s climate of division and intolerance, it’s nice to know that people living with live fresh cut flowers have reported an increase in feelings of compassion and kindness toward others. It seems we could all benefit from a few fresh flowers in our homes.
Improves Emotional Connections
Flowers in the home improve our emotional connections to family. When there are pretty flowers in the house for the whole family to see, everyone benefits. Happiness, compassion and understanding strengthen our bonds, improving our relationships.
Increase Energy
Flowers are happy rays of beauty that seem to increase energy in those around them. People in the studies reported having increased energy from daily exposure to fresh flowers. The effect also carried over to their lives at work. They all seemed to have more enthusiasm and energy.
Reduces Depression and Anxiety
Study participants reported that they had fewer episodes of depression and anxiety after spending just a few days with fresh flowers in their home. They felt less negative, more hopeful and positive. “ As a psychologist, I’m particularly intrigued to find people who live with flowers report fewer episodes of anxiety and depressed feelings. Our results suggest that flowers have a positive impact on our well –being,”says Nancy Etcoff, PH.D., researcher with the joint Massachusetts General and Harvard Medical study.
Improve Well Being
It’s scientifically proven that flowers increase happiness and improve wellbeing. One study, notes that patients in rooms filled with flowers responded more positively to treatment, and had lower pain, fatigue, and anxiety ratings along with more positive feelings compared to those in a control group. Imagine what the effect of flowers would be on a healthy person.
Improves Creativity & Problem Solving
Here’s some good news for those of us that work from home. Studies show having flowers in your work space increases creativity and improves problem-solving skills. I am on board with that! I love having fresh flowers in my home office, and other rooms of the house.
You Deserve Them
The best reason of all to buy yourself fresh flowers is that you deserve them. You deserve to have a vase of flowers in every room of your home. Nothing, in my opinion, is more of a pick-me-up than flowers. The simple act of stopping by the flower cart at Whole Foods is euphoric, at least it is for me.
These studies make a darn good argument for keeping fresh flowers in your house. The best part is adopting the tradition doesn’t have to cost the farm. You can plant a cut garden, or find great deals at the grocery store. Picking wildflowers won’t cost a thing, just be careful if family members have allergies. Some wild flowers could induce a bad case of hay fever, and nobody will happy then.
