People often think of flowers when they want to show their love for someone or create a beautiful centerpiece. Although flowers can add beauty to everyday life, they also hold surprising medicinal qualities. Read this guide to learn how flowers can improve your health and a few easy ways to weave them into your diet.
1. They Purify The Air
Airborne pollutants can irritate your lung lining. They might also make you sick if they carry viruses or bacteria. When these pollutants sneak into your home, indoor circulation and closed windows can retain contaminants in your living space long-term.
Place chrysanthemums around your home to purify your air. They have natural antimicrobial properties that kill bacteria and viruses. You’ll stay healthier all year long, which is especially important during flu seasons.
2. They Reduce Blood Pressure
When your blood pressure rises, your blood vessels constrict. Delivering oxygen to your organs is more challenging, making treating high blood pressure essential. Although you should listen to your doctor’s recommendations, you can assist their treatment options with lavender flowers.
Boiling lavender flowers into an extract, combining it with oil and diffusing that oil may reduce your blood pressure based on recent research. Slow, meditative breathing will help your body absorb more of the all-natural oil, ultimately improving your health alongside any medications or lifestyle changes your doctor recommends.
3. They Soothe Sore Throats
Roses are gorgeous flowers that also contain plenty of vitamins. If you place rose petals in a tea bag and let it steep for a few minutes, the rose tea can soothe your sore throat while you’re fighting a head cold.
If you don’t typically enjoy drinking tea, you can infuse lemonade or juice with rose petals to achieve the same results. As long as the roses don’t contain pesticides from their time in your garden, they’ll be safe to drink when you’re not feeling well.
4. They Improve Your Mood
Receiving a bouquet is always a lovely surprise. The thoughtful gift makes people feel treasured, but you don’t have to wait for someone to buy a bouquet to feel the same joy. Improve your mood by placing peace lilies around your home or growing them in your garden.
Peace lilies remove airborne volatile organic compounds (VOCs) that can influence how people feel. When you breathe VOCs over long periods, they create a psychophysiological effect that dampens your mood. Decorate with peace lilies or garden with them to improve your health. Just keep them away from your pets, as peace lilies are poisonous to cats and dogs.
5. They Relieve Anxiety
Monitoring your stress and anxiety is crucial to enjoying your daily life. People have invented numerous ways to check these levels over thousands of years, including reading their energy output and doing blood tests.
No matter how you track your anxiety and stress, your results could be much lower if you have more flowers in your daily life. Chamomile specifically targets high anxiety levels to put your mind at ease. Research shows it reduces physical symptoms of anxiety when applied as an oil, but you can use it topically through lotions and serums too.
6. They Minimize Illness Length
The iconic reverse-cone shape of echinacea flowers makes it a popular addition to gardens and bouquets. Use it around your house and in your cooking to reduce how long you feel sick when you show common cold symptoms.
When extracted and applied to virus particles in a laboratory setting, echinacea petals inactivated the virus strains faster than droplets that imitated the reaction of a natural immune system. You may recover from colds faster by enjoying things like echinacea teas and soups. Save a few recipes to have them on standby when flu season begins.
7. They Lower Cholesterol Levels
Sweeten hibiscus with your preferred sweetener to gain another cholesterol management tool. The colorful flower steeps in just minutes. As it dissolves in warm water, the lipid profiles dissolve too. Clinical trial participants experienced lower low-density cholesterol concentrations after drinking hibiscus tea, pointing toward the flower’s glycemic-controlling abilities.
It’s also easy to cook with hibiscus petals if you don’t prefer tea. After grinding or boiling the petals, they add sour notes to recipes for tacos, punch and fruit tarts. Some health stores even carry hibiscus petals in their spice aisles if they carry specialty groceries.
8. They Reduce Disease Risk
When you see dandelions growing in your garden or thriving in indoor pots, remove them when they reach maturity. The roots contain essential antioxidants that have immunomodulatory effects for people battling diseases.
Eating recipes that use dandelions can help your body fight infections and potentially prevent diseases if you have a genetic predisposition. Antioxidants remove free radicals that damage cells by causing long-term oxidative stress. Adding foods or beverages with dandelions to your diet will improve your health by supporting your cells.
Use Flowers To Improve Your Health
There are numerous ways to improve your health with flowers. Whether you want to use them as decor or integrate them into your diet, selecting the right varieties could help you manage your health and wellbeing. Consider which symptoms or issues most affect your daily life to use the matching flower species as a supplemental treatment alongside your doctor’s recommendations.
