The physiological and psychological relaxing effects of viewing rose flowers in office workers

Abstract

BackgroundIn recent years, the physiological relaxing effect brought by nature is becoming clear; however, many workers find it difficult to be exposed to nature in their working environment. Exposure to fresh flowers represents an opportunity to incorporate nature into their working lives. In this study, we examined the effects of exposure to roses on physiological and psychological variables (heart rate variability, pulse rate, and subjective responses) in office workers.ResultsThe experimental site was Mizuho Information & Research Institute, Inc., in the Tokyo metropolitan area. Thirty-one male office workers were included in the present study. The subjects were exposed to thirty unscented pink roses (Rosa, Dekora) arranged in a cylindrical glass vase for 4 min. In the control condition, the subjects were not exposed to flowers. After the experiments, the subjects completed a questionnaire. The order of exposure was counterbalanced among subjects. Among subjects exposed to roses, the high-frequency component of heart rate variability was significantly higher than in controls. Similarly, 'comfortable,’ 'relaxed’ and 'natural’ feelings were more common in subjects exposed to roses.ConclusionsData from this study support the presence of physiological and psychological relaxing effects of being exposed to flowers on office workers.

Effects of olfactory stimulation by α-pinene on autonomic nervous activity

“…Olfactory stimulation by Japanese cypress leaf oil and inhalation of D-limonene enhanced parasympathetic nervous activity by 34.5 and 26.4 %, respectively, compared with a control (air) [5,6]; these findings were in accordance with the results of our previous laboratory experiments [17,18]. In our forest therapy field experiment, which included a large sample size of 625 participants [19], 79.2 % of the participants showed an increase in parasympathetic nervous activity in a forest environment compared with that in an urban environment.…”

Comparison of the effects of olfactory stimulation by air-dried and high-temperature-dried wood chips of hinoki cypress (Chamaecyparis obtusa) on prefrontal cortex activity

“…Recent studies have focused on the physiological relaxing effects of nature-derived stimulation [1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15][16][17], and there are several reports on the effects of wood odor on humans [9][10][11]. Miyazaki et al [9] reported that inhalation of Taiwan hinoki oil odor decreases systolic blood pressure.…”

Physiological effects of touching hinoki cypress (Chamaecyparis obtusa)

“…Previous studies have shown that natural environments or nature-derived stimuli, such as forests [36][37][38][39][40][41][42], urban parks [43][44][45], flowers [46][47][48][49][50], and foliage plants [51,52], induce physiological relaxation in humans. Wood is a familiar natural material which we have many opportunities to touch on a daily basis, and it is used for many household objects, such as interior materials of buildings and houses, furniture (desks and shelves), and stationery.…”