As home working becomes the norm once again, many have found themselves fixing up their home office, at this increasingly anxious time. Working from home in a productive, and healthy space is incredibly important for your overall well being, so what can you do to your house to make it a ‘working from home haven’, rather than a brain draining cave?
Luckily Bloom & Wild, the British inventors of the ‘letterbox flowers’, have investigated the psychological impacts of flowers in the home on stress and motivation. The findings of their ‘Flower Power Test’ will be sure to brighten up anyone’s day, and put them in a productive mood.
Bloom & Wild sent a variety of flowers to a range of remote workers with the instructions to arrange their bouquets, and to simultaneously measure their heart rates thereby completing a ‘stress-test’. Following the short task, participants and their housemates or partners completed a survey, to explore how stress levels and productivity were affected by the flowers.
The experiment found some interesting results for how it helped workers relax during a stressful day
- 90% said they found focusing on something creative helped to reduce their stress levels
- 68% said they felt focused when arranging flowers
- 53% said they felt relaxed when arranging flowers
The test also indicated that flowers have a physiological effect on the body
- On average 30 minutes of flower arranging made heart rates drop by 7.17 bmp
- Heart rates continued to drop after flower arranging by another 4.8 bmp. This suggests that having some time to disconnect and be around flowers did wonders for people’s stress levels!
The study also recognised that flowers have a long-lasting impact on our immediate workplace
- 100% said they felt happier when working with flowers in their space
- 75% said they felt some reduction in their stress levels after working with flowers in their space
- 50% said they felt more productive after having flowers in their workspace
After the experiment, the brand additionally ran a survey to investigate whether participants would purchase flowers again to help improve their work-from-home productivity. Every single participant said that they would buy flowers as it improved their workspace, subsequently improving their mood, as well as, making the room more pleasing to be in, while concurrently boosting their productivity.
A Tried & Tested Solution
There’s been a breadth of academic research into the psychological impacts of flowers, with almost all agreeing that plants have health benefits such as lowering blood pressure, and aiding heart conditions. Researchers have also identified the social impacts of plants at the home, including helping strengthen emotional bonds between family and friends.
Bloom & Wild spoke to Lowri Dowthwaite, a specialist in psychological interventions at the University of Central Lancashire, who says humans react so positively to flowers because of our evolution – we come from nature and the earth is our home.
“There are many psychological theories about self-actualising which is about becoming your true self and being a whole person. It’s about connecting to where you came from and nature is where we came from. When we’re with nature we automatically feel more at home,” she explains.
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But how do flowers actually affect the brain?
The experience of flowers is both a visual, and a sensual experience. For example, the colours that people see, the way the flower feels and the scent of flowers as well.
Flowers are known to stimulate several ‘happy’ chemicals like oxytocin, serotonin and dopamine. Whenever someone sees or receives flowers, the brain recognises that as a good, rewarding action.
Ms Dothwaite says these biochemical changes that occur in the body can be especially helpful during times of stress.
“Generally it will be endorphins that are to do with wellbeing so you will experience a release of dopamine which is the feel-good hormone. Possibly serotonin, and oxytocin which is the bonding hormone.”
“For example, if people received flowers from a loved one or a special friend, this can help them feel closer to that person and when we feel close to people we release a hormone called oxytocin which is the bonding hormone – it helps us to feel connected to other people and during times of stress that’s really, really important,” she says.
Natural therapy
In this new world of uncertainty, nature can be transportive so it’s more important than ever to get in touch with your roots, and not to worry if you don’t want to, or can’t leave the house, studies have shown that just looking at a flower can be as powerful.
“There’s some encouraging research that shows that we can, as much as possible, bring the outdoors inside in various ways that can actually still act like a connection to nature even though we’re not physically in nature,” explains Ms Dothwaite.
By Seb Burchell
About the author
Seb Burchell is a freelance PR consultant. I’ve gained vast experience working with a variety of digital brands, but now I specialise in home, interior and gardening eCommerce businesses. Specifically, I love working with clients who are in touch with the outdoors, and let the natural world influence their product, service, and company.
