Flowers can lift anyone’s spirits, but they have an especially beneficial effect on elderly people, according to a study at Rutgers University.

The results shed new light on how nature’s support systems help seniors cope with the challenges of aging.
•Flowers decrease depression. Study participants showed a significant increase in happiness and positive moods when flowers were present.
•Flowers refresh recent memory. Seniors performed higher on everyday memory tasks and experienced enriched personal memories in the presence of flowers.
•Flowers encourage companionship. Seniors who received flowers re-engaged with members of their communities and enlarged their social contacts to include more neighbors, religious support and even medical personnel.

“Instinct tells us that flowers lift our spirits, but, their effects on seniors are especially profound, if not surprising,” said Jeannette Haviland-Jones, professor of psychology at Rutgers.

The study of seniors was the second part of a study of flowers and emotional health conducted by Haviland-Jones. The earlier study of people in general also found that flowers made people much happier than expected, and made people more sociable.

The results of the studies can be found on the Society of American Florists web page at http://www.aboutflowers.com/happier.html