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Sending flowers to your sick or sad friend might be a universal go-to gift, but the heartwarming gesture is actually more helpful than you think. I know it may be surprising, but there are more to flowers than just a sweet smell and a pretty face—they can have some seriously positive effects on our health, too.
The American Society for Horticulture Science performed a study evaluating if plants have therapeutic influences on surgical patients, and the results are honestly kind of shocking. 90 patients were split into rooms either with plants or without plants, and those with some kind of foliage had wildly different results than those who had not.
According to the study, those exposed to flowers had lower blood pressure and heart rate, lower ratings of pain, anxiety, and fatigue, and more positive feelings and higher satisfaction about their rooms than the patients without foliage. The findings from this research actually suggests that flowers should be "complementary medicine" for recovering patients. Now that's an idea I can get behind.
Bouquets of flowers can actually also make us feel less stressed out, according to a study published in Complementary Therapies In Medicine. The study gave college-aged women a fresh vase of roses for their dorm rooms, and the results included the subjects feeling more relaxed and stress-free than before. I don't know about you, but this info is persuading me to go out and buy myself a bouquet—or six.
