Pets Can Greatly Improve Your Health
by: Adoz Lizzat
Having a pet is one of the healthiest investments you can make to
your long-term health and happiness. We know that having a pet
enriches our lives, and scientific studies in the last decade, have
clearly shown how companion animals benefit both our bodies and our
minds. Apart from lazy days in the sun, walking, fetching, and
guaranteed smiles throughout the day, pets provide health benefits
that extend far into the body and mind, such as lower blood
pressure, heart rate, anxiety level as well as providing pet owners
with both consistent behavior and offering unconditional love and
affection. Pets in return, respond well to stability and the love
and affection pet owners lavish upon them.
Pets have been known to improve the lives of pet owners,
significantly benefiting health, not only for the young and
families, but also for the elderly. Pets may help elderly owners
live longer, healthier and ultimately, more enjoyable lives. The
Journal of the American Geriatrics Society published an article in
May 1999 showing how independently living seniors with pets, tend to
have better physical strength and overall mental health and
wellbeing than seniors that do not have pets. They are more active,
generally happier, cope better with stress, and have significantly
lower blood pressure.
It would seem that taking care of a pet would be a lot of work. In
fact, it is that work, that maintenance - walking, feeding,
grooming, fresh water, playing and petting, that lowers the heart
rate, decreases anxiety and stress levels, increases serotonin and
the release of beta-endorphins in pet owners. Even just getting up
to open the door for a dog to be let in or out, or changing the
water for the kitty, require some cardiovascular exercise, and
increase joint flexibility and keep joints limber and agile.
Consistent minor exercise like this, ensures healthier bodies for
pet owners.
Many of the benefits of having a pet are less tangible. Pets allow
for physical contact and offer consistent companionship, as well as
unconditional love. They act as a support system for older people
without homes or families or close friends. People with pets
generally remain more stable emotionally during crises than people
without pets. Pets also offer protection socially from isolation,
separation anxiety for people in nursing homes, and for people who
don't have as much opportunity to interact with other people.
Pets help elders perform daily functions and stick to regular
routines such as getting up every day, buying groceries and going
outside of their homes - all necessary physical, emotional, and
social activities, that help elderly people active, motivated to eat
and sleep, and comfortable in their environments and with
themselves. Through these interactions, pets enable elders to
interact with others more frequently, which lowers depression and
anxiety, both frequent medical problems facing elders today.
See Also:
Canine MD:
Six Ways Your Dog Can Save Your Heart
Science has finally caught up with what dog lovers have known for
years—that having a dog is great for your health. Here are six ways
science has proven that living with a dog promotes better heart
health.
Golden Years: Nine Ways a Dog Boosts Your Health
What if there was a simple way to reduce stress, prolong
and improve the quality of your life, banish the blues, and best of all,
decrease the number of doctor visits? There is! Get a dog. Here are nine
ways that having a dog can boost your health.
Canine
MD: Eight Ways a Dog Improves Your Child’s Well-Being
Some of our favorite childhood memories involve dogs. But did you know
that warm feeling is based in good science? Here are eight ways a dog
improves your child’s health and well-being.
Adoz Lizzat is the owner of
Groomed Friends. A very valuable resource to the pets industry. For
more information, go to:
http://www.apetsz.com .
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