There's nothing better for brightening your day than receiving a bouquet of flowers, but does having flowers around your home on a regular basis change your mood and make you happier? Researcher Nancy Etcoff from Harvard Medical School and Massachusetts General Hospital conducted a behavioral study to determine the effect flowers have on people's moods.
Etcoff studied 54 people between the ages of 25 and 60 for one week. Each person was given a self-reporting questionnaire to determine his or her activities during the day -- whom they were with and what they were doing -- when they experienced a strong emotion. One-half of the participants had flowers consistently in their home environment, and the control group had no flowers.
The results indicated that flowers in the home influenced moods such as compassion and worry. The participants who had flowers were more compassionate, less negative, more likely to feel happy, and likely to have more enthusiasm and energy at work.
Charlie Nardozzi is an award winning, nationally recognized garden writer, speaker, radio, and television personality. He has worked for more than 30 years bringing expert gardening information to home gardeners through radio, television, talks, tours, on-line, and the printed page. Charlie delights in making gardening information simple, easy, fun and accessible to everyone. He's the author of 6 books, has three radio shows in New England and a TV show. He leads Garden Tours around the world and consults with organizations and companies about gardening programs. See more about him at Gardening With Charlie.
