The Grocery Store Find That’s Been Scientifically Proven to Lower Stress
Which grocery store item reduces stress? If you’re looking for the answer in this photo, we must admit that we cheated a little. While these are all groceries (obviously), none of them are the answer we teased in the headline of this story.
Do you have any guesses as to what it might be?
The correct answer: flowers!
According to a recent survey, 68 percent of people feel stress on a weekly basis, and 32 percent are stressed every day. Women, in particular, are affected the most, with one in four reporting experiencing stress multiple times a day. (We’d actually love to meet the three out of four women who say they aren’t stressed!)
The Study
But there’s hope! A new study from the University of North Florida’s Department of Public Health found that living with flowers significantly alleviates daily stress.
For the study, researchers gathered 170 women and had them fill out questionnaires about their perceived stress levels at the beginning and the end of their 12-day participation, as well as daily briefings on moods. Five days in, each participant received either flowers, a comparable gift (a luxury candle), or nothing at all
Turns out, there were no differences in the levels of stress among the three groups of women at the beginning of the study. At the end of the study, the difference in pre- and post-stress scores among the flower group was statistically significant.
The researchers say this is, “likely because flowers provide the opportunity for nature contact, an established health- promoting environmental exposure.”
Bringing It Home
Of course, in this study, the flowers were an unexpected gift, so you might not see the same results if you were to buy them for yourself (although the exposure to nature would still be there). It’s worth a try. Or you could always forward this article to someone else (hint, hint!).
More on Grocery Store Flowers
Do you buy flowers regularly at the grocery store?