Has your health gone to the dogs? Consider that a very good thing.
A bunch of latest scientific evidence reveals that interacting with our canine friends for just 5 to twenty minutes can reduce stress and increase happiness.
“I believe it’s protected to say that animals are helpful to our mental and physical health,” says Nancy Gee, a professor of psychiatry and director of the Center for Human-Animal Interaction at Virginia Commonwealth University, told NPR.
In accordance with the National Institute of Health, petting a pup has decreased levels of cortisol (a stress-related hormone) and lower blood pressure. Other studies have found that animals can reduce loneliness, increase feelings of social support, and boost your mood
Dog ownership has also been linked to an extended life and higher heart health, especially for heart attack and stroke survivors, in accordance with a latest study and a separate meta-analysis published in Circulation: Cardiovascular Quality and Outcomes, a journal of the American Heart Association.
Related: ‘The Least We Could Do’: Turkish Airlines Flew Rescue Dogs Who Helped With Earthquake In Syria And Turkey In Business Class
Petting other people’s dogs work, too.
You do not have to own a dog to reap the rewards. Recent research from Washington State University, with support from the Waltham Petcare Science Institute, found that therapy dogs can assist boost college students’ attention and memory and help them tackle stress.
In one other study, nine-year-olds were asked to pet dogs twice per week for 20 minutes for 4 weeks. Researchers measured the children’ cortisol levels before and after the 4 weeks of cuddling. The result: The youngsters who interacted with the dogs had much lower cortisol levels than the children who didn’t.
Why do dogs chill us out?
What’s it about dogs that makes humans calm down? The research on that’s less clear. NPR asked Megan Mueller, an associate professor on the Cummings School of Veterinary Medicine at Tufts University, to weigh in. She hypothesizes that dogs take us out of our heads and make us live within the moment.
“They’re experiencing their environment with wonder and awe on a regular basis, and they are not bringing up what happened to them earlier within the day or what they’re interested by in the long run. They’re there right away,”
And humans aren’t the one ones getting the advantages. Dogs dig it, too. “It is a two-way street,” said Gee. “The dogs’ oxytocin also increases after they interact with a human.”
Related: This $35 Interactive Dog Toy Could Bring Some Recent Customers to Your Business