Effects of viewing flowering plants on employees' wellbeing in an office-like environment

Abstract

Despite the existence of plentiful studies on how plants can positively affect human wellbeing, few have focused on the potential effects of flower colours on stressed people. The present study was designed to illustrate the psychophysiological relaxation impacts of seeing purple and blue hydrangea flowers among finance workers. Thirty employees were asked to view purple, blue flowers or an empty table for 3-min, during which we measured the participants' brain activity, heart rate variability and skin conductance. We also assessed their emotions and mood states. Findings suggest that, compared with viewing the control, viewing blue and purple flowers resulted in a significant increase in alpha relative waves in the prefrontal and occipital lobes, and a significant increase in parasympathetic nervous activity. A significant increase in the sensation vote for ‘comfort', ‘relaxation' and ‘cheerfulness', as well as a dramatic improvement in the mood state was observed. The results show clear evidence for the support of the use of blue and purple flowering plants in places where comfort and calmness are required. In addition, blue flowers were more favoured and had the greatest positive effects. Results indicate that viewing flowering plants would be a promising therapeutic approach for enhancing physiological functions and improving psychological relaxation for office workers.