Want a pet? Take this post to your mom!
Okay, so if you want a cat this post won’t effect you as much as if you want a dog. Although scientists have believed that a companion pet can be good for you, now new research is showing that dog owners are physically more healthy than cat owners!
In a recent article titled How A Dog’s Life Can Make You Happier, Martin Hodgson writes about new research regarding pet owners. “According to Deborah Wells from Queen’s University, Belfast, dog owners tend to have lower blood pressure and cholesterol levels, possibly thanks to regular walks with their four-legged friends.” Walk your dog: get your exercise, give your best friend some exercise and love on your best friend all at the same time! What a grand idea - someone get me a pup!
On top of lower cholesterol and blood pressure levels, dog owners, according to Dr. Wells, an author in the British Journal of Health Psychology, “appear to suffer from fewer minor ailments as well as fewer serious medical problems.” Dr. Wells, in previous studies found that dogs also aid recovery from serious illnesses such as heart attacks! Dog owners, are more likely, by about 8.6%, to be alive one year after a heart attack when compared to those who did not own a dog.
Dr Wells said “it is possible that dogs can directly promote our well-being by buffering us from stress. The ownership of a dog can also lead to increases in physical activity and facilitate the development of social contacts, which may enhance physiological and psychological human health in a more indirect manner.�
Not only will adults heal better with a dog in their lives, but chronically ill children are aided by the mere presence of a dog during their potentially painful medical procedures!
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