32% of millennials and 27% of Gen X owned pets in the 2021-22 term. Despite the generational gaps in standards of living and beliefs that dictate them, pet ownership is reasonably constant across all generations. Everyone from a middle-aged war veteran to a 6-year-old child is attached to their furry animals. How do pets impact our lifestyle? Why are they popular amongst people of different ages despite their differences? This blog discusses the health benefits of owning pets to explain why pets are important for a happy and healthy life.
Physical Activity
A study on a neighborhood in the United Kingdom involved a questionnaire on physical activity and dog ownership. The results showed that people who owned dogs tended to fulfill weekly exercise standards more frequently than people without dogs. The main reason was that people who owned dogs also walked them, adding to their routine movement.
However, it was also found that dog owners went to the gym more frequently without their dogs too. While the study does not prove a correlation, it suggests that a dog might be beneficial in a strategy constructed to lead a healthier life.
Walking pets as an activity, in particular, can be adapted to any type of lifestyle because of its masquerade as a chore or a responsibility rather than a self-care activity. You don’t need a gym membership to walk a dog. American Journal of Medicine recommends walking a dog to reap health benefits from a fun activity.
Additionally, taking your pet out for a walk increases your socialization which builds a sense of community and benefits your mental health.
Effect On The Cardiovascular System
In 2013, American Heart Association published a statement on pet ownership and the risks of cardiovascular disease. The statement confirms that cat and dog owners have more regulated blood pressure levels, lower cholesterol and triglyceride levels in the blood and a reduced risk of heart disease. The Association has gone as far as to suggest that dog ownership can be associated with a longer lifespan and reduced mortality.
Stress And Anxiety
Apart from loyal companionship, emotional support dogs are recommended by psychiatrists to people with disabling mental illnesses. Stress and anxiety are two of the most common states of emotional hindrances that people have to deal with today. They impact how people communicate with each other, form bonds, or carry out daily tasks.
Animals can make people feel calmer by distracting them or serving as a source of entertainment long enough for people to rationalize their emotions. Since owning pets can help regulate blood pressure, they can reduce stress. Additionally, people with social anxiety can benefit from pet ownership because pets offer a sense of stability in their lives, which encourages them to interact with people.
Oxytocin Production
Research has proven that humans can experience hormonal changes when interacting with dogs. The human brain stimulates the production of the hormone oxytocin ̶ associated with warm and fuzzy feelings when you are in love. Interacting with animals, especially dogs, can result in a surge of oxytocin production in the body. This helps explain why emotional support dogs work so well or the reduction in stress and anxiety when you adopt a pet.
Service Dogs
Service dogs are legally different from emotional support dogs as the former is trained for specific purposes and tasks to provide support to owners.
Oncoming Seizures
You must have heard tales of dogs foreseeing an epilepsy episode a few moments or hours before it occurs. Seizure-alert dogs are specially trained to detect epilepsy and support their owner during an episode. While scientific research on the extent of help is limited, these animals are still saving lives and providing comfort to their owners. The dogs trained to support an epileptic patient can do so in the following ways:
- Break their fall during an episode,
- Stay close to provide comfort after an episode, and,
- Signal a caretaker for appropriate action.
PTSD In Military Veterans
Service dogs also help military veterans with post-traumatic stress disorder. Veterans who have furry friends have milder symptoms of PTSD than those who don’t. This can also be related to the oxytocin production and companionship a dog offers their owners.
For People With Dementia
This review highlights the findings in recent years of the benefits of pet ownership for people with dementia. The review suggests that there is enough evidence to believe that pets reduce the dependency of people with dementia on other humans.
It also endorses the effectiveness of aminal-assisted therapy (AAT) alongside other clinical interventions to deal with dementia symptoms. Having pets around seems to have a behavioral advantage for people with dementia who find themselves being calmed by their pets.
Mental Health Benefits
Finally, owning pets has plenty of benefits for your mental health. Regular exercise, the production of hormones that give us warm feelings, assistance for disability, and general companionship to ward off loneliness do tons for our mental health, which is why pets are very important for our mental and emotional well-being.
The role of pets in our lives cannot be justified on a page which means that losing them is harder for those of us who depend on their companionship.
Heaven’s Gate Pet Memorial Center is a euthanasia guide and cremation service provider that helps pet owners deal with the grief of losing a pet by offering pet cremation services and keepsake jewelry. They are available on call and provide same-day services to ensure you give your pets the honor they deserve. Reach out to them for more information.
About The Author
Ruth Davis is a freelance writer interested in interspecies friendship and harmony. She is currently associated with Heaven’s Gate Pet Memorial Service. She spends her leisure time with her pets.
