How Can Flowers and Their Colors Promote Individuals’ Physiological and Psychological States during the COVID-19 Lockdown?

Abstract

The global spread of COVID-19 has disrupted the normality of people’s daily lives, leading the population to social distancing and isolation. The closure of green areas also affected the well-being of the individual during the COVID-19 pandemic. Viewing flowers is expected to have similar positive effects to viewing natural scenery. Therefore, this study investigates how white, red, and yellow flower colors affect individuals’ psychological and physiological well-being. The experiment was conducted in an office-like setting with 50 participants. Participants looked at each flower color for 3 min. Electroencephalograms (EEGs), heart rate variability, and skin conductivity were measured to evaluate physiological responses along with both the semantic differential questionnaire (SD) and the Profile of Mood States (POMS) to assess psychological responses. EEGs showed that the mean values of alpha relative power in the prefrontal lobe were significantly higher when viewing yellow and red flowers vs. white flowers. Furthermore, heart rate variability revealed that viewing yellow and red flowers increased parasympathetic nerve activity significantly. After viewing the yellow and red flowers, the average results for each subscale of the POMS questionnaire improved. The vigor (V) subscale and overall mood status values were significantly improved. The results of the SD method revealed that viewing yellow and red flowers resulted in a significantly higher sense of relaxation, cheerfulness, and comfort than viewing white flowers.

Flowers – Sunshine for the soul! How does floral colour influence preference, feelings of relaxation and positive up-lift?

“…Thus if a landscape architect was restricted to the use of a single flower colour within a therapeutic environment, white would be the colour to recommend. This contradicts Xie et al (2021) who found white flowers reduced cheerfulness and relaxation compared to red or yellow flowers. The reason for this is not clear, but may relate to different visual stimulations (cut roses arranged in glass vases) or cultural context (participants based in China).…”

“…Questionnaires using photographs have been used before to elicit responses to flower colour (Li et al, 2012;Hůla and Flegr, 2016;Neale et al, 2021), and whilst this approach does not immerse the participant in the landscape in the way that an in vivo experiment would, it can still be used to determine preferences as well as emotional and physiological responses (Jo et al, 2019). Photographs can also indicate or imply 'mass plantings', more akin to an in vivo landscape than perhaps individual flowers or pots of flowers displayed in a laboratory can (Jang et al, 2014;Xie et al, 2021). A photo-based questionnaire has the added advantage of allowing for a greater number of participants over a given time, and thus aid statistical robustness.…”

Psychological Effects of Walking and Relaxed Sitting in Urban Greenspaces During Post-pandemic: A Case Study in Bogor City, Indonesia

“…As a result, the plant's colour can aid people in relieving stress and enhancing their emotional condition (Jang et al, 2014). In line with these findings, Xie et al (2021) also proposed that seeing flowers bloom can have physiological and psychological advantages such as reduced stress and increased well-being. The colour of the flower also has a favourable influence on the individual's physiology and psychology.…”

Integrated Evaluation Method of the Health-Related Physical Environment in Urbanizing Areas: A Case Study From a University Campus in China

“…The questionnaire for landscape perception evaluation is shown in Table 3 . The evaluative dimension includes spatial characteristics, environment greening, and psychological perception, and an 11-class linear scale is used for conversion ( 38 , 39 ).…”