As we all know in this unprecedented time when everyone is struggling through tough times, stress, anxiety, and depression are common in everyone, therefore, we find different ways to cope up, but we do not know that our pets can work as a good healer for us. Research shows that having a pet can help with many health benefits, which we will discuss in this article.
So, to help you understand better, here we have listed 7 health benefits of owning a pet.
Pets can improve mental health:
In today’s fast-paced life everyone is struggling with anxiety, stress, depression and mental illness so having a dog or a cat can help you reduce your mental health problems.
These little creatures are familiar with human feelings, what we feel they interpret through our voice or gestures. Many research shows that they help reduce our stress level. Having a pet companion will reduce some stress hormones while releasing some healthy hormones that can improve your mental health. Pets need care and love, and the act of loving and caretaking have mental benefits.
Help reduce heart-related problems:
Data from WHO shows that an estimated 17.9 million people died from cardiovascular disease in 2016, which consists of 31% of global death. Some research also shows that having a dog will reduce triglyceride and cholesterol levels, which may cause cardiovascular disease. It directly stated that pets reduce the risk of strokes and heart attacks.
Improve immune system:
Ever since the coronavirus emerged, people started to give extra importance to their health and immunity. Different methods are used to keep their immune system strong but do you know how pets in your own home can also help you improve your immunity. According to a study conducted by the University of Arizona, pets work like probiotics, having healthy bacteria which helps improve strong immune systems. Pets in your house can prevent diseases like asthma. Having a dog or pet is as helpful as taking some healthy food.
Pets help with Alzheimer or dementia :
Alzheimer or dementia is a disease of memory loss and behavioural problems, many times caused due to the inability to handle stress and anxiety.
According to Columbia university’s research, If Alzheimer patients have pets, the chances of stress and aggressive behaviour are less.
Their docile and amicable behaviour of pets not only helps to prevent dementia but also helps in reducing anxiety, irritability, depression, and agitation.
Can help reduce our loneliness and negativity.
We all have heard that having a positive mind will lead you to success in any sphere of life. And just like that a negative mind leads you in a different domain of life and impacts our mental as well as physical health.
Negative emotions can be understood as any physical, chemical or emotional factor that causes physical and mental discomfort and can become a factor in disease formation.
As previously discussed, pets understand our emotions from our tone of voice and behaviours, then they treat us accordingly. If we have any negative feelings due to a bad experience, they try to heal our negative emotions.
They help us boost our fitness.
In this busy span of life, no one has time for fitness, less time and a tight schedule will lead to health deterioration. And do you know that people having pets usually spend around 300 minutes walking per week compared to 100 minutes without having pets?
As many studies show, walking or 15 minutes of daily physical activity improves our overall health. And apparently, people with pets indulge in physical activity more than those who do not have pets.
Pets can catch the disease early :
If we especially talk about dogs, it is a known fact that dogs’ smelling sense is amazing. In fact, some canines also have senses to detect diseases like cancer, and diabetes. One of the research also suggests that dogs can detect Covid 19 through smell. There are many instances where an owner later finds that their dog was constantly sniffing and licking at the hidden tumour under the skin.
Conclusion:
Life can be difficult sometimes and we all need someone to be around during these times. And what better than a furry friend!
If you are not sure which kind of bread or pet you want, do your research, explore what kind of care and food is required, refer to PETstock Australia, and then make a decision.
Make sure if you decide to be a pet owner, you take care of them as well, they need proper attention, so keep in mind that you will have to be responsible with your pets. They are a lot of fun and will accompany you, so make sure you do the same for them.
Interesting Related Article: “Choosing the Right Pet Plan“