Exercise, eat healthy, get plenty of sleep. We've all heard these suggestions to promote self-care, but accomplishing them can be challenging even on a good day!
Did you know there's an even easier way to boost your physical and mental health? Researchers have found that our environment, our surroundings are a key component in our well being and that including flowers in your everyday life can be most beneficial. For years, academic researchers have linked flowers to happiness.
Researchers have noted that flowers can be a source of pleasure. Flowers are known to trigger the release of “happy” brain chemicals dopamine, oxytocin and serotonin. I cannot tell you the number of times, when I used to deliver flowers for my family back when I was in high school, the wide grins and glow that crosses people's faces when they receive a flower bouquet.
While flowers won’t replace working out or eating well, they are beneficial to self-care.
Rutgers University researchers performed a ten month study of individual participants’ behavioral and emotional response to receiving flowers. Their report, “An Environmental Approach to Positive Emotion: Flowers,” found that flowers improve mood, help people make deep connections, and have an immediate positive effect on happiness.
On the heels of the Rutgers study, a researcher at Harvard Medical School and Massachusetts General Hospital looked at the “Home Ecology of Flowers.”
The research found that people living with flowers reported increased feelings of compassion and kindness toward others. By placing flowers in high visibility areas of their home, participants reported feeling less anxiety and worry.
Flowers are often viewed as a luxury and "not worth" the expense, but research shows that a little self-care in the addition of flowers to our lives reaps far greater returns in emotional health and well being, that far outweighs any monetary expense. Call us today to beautify your home with fresh flowers from our trusted sources.
