Have you ever noticed that you feel better when you're around your pet? It is not just wishful thinking, but an absolute truth. Whether you are a dog owner or a dog lover, hanging out with your furry friends can do wonders for your health. Spending quality time with your pet, be it dog or any other animal makes you happy and also helps in fighting stress and depression.
Pets can help you be healthy in other ways, too:
- Mood Booster: People with pets are generally happier, more trusting and less lonely than those who don't have pets. Dogs can help to keep you engaged and lighten up your mood.
- Socially Active: Pets, especially dogs, help you to connect with other people and make new friends easily. A walk with your dog to the park will always let you make new friends as who can resist talking about a dog! According to one British study, (by speaking with different dog owners) it has been found that 40% people having dogs made friends easily.
- Stress Reliever: Petting makes you feel good. It can be a dog or a cat or any other animal. A pet at home can help in lowering your blood pressure and also helps your body release relaxation hormones that eventually decreases your stress level.
- A Healthier Heart: A dog may make you less likely to get a heart disease. Usually, dog owners walk more in comparison to a non-dog owner that promotes a healthy life and heart. Walking also helps in maintaining weight and hence improves the overall health of a person.
Pets can also be good if you already have heart problems.
- Combat disease and injury: It is believed that a dog can help in detecting and treating a variety of illnesses. A few of them are mentioned below:
- Some of the dogs are trained to sniff out skin, kidney, bladder and prostate cancer, among others.
- Service dogs help people suffering from traumatic brain injury, autism or rheumatoid arthritis by increasing mobility and promoting independence.
- Dogs can also help Alzheimer’s patients by reducing their emotional flare-ups and aggression.
- Prevent Allergies: It has always been believed that dogs and cats at home can cause allergies in children. However, this is a total myth as recent studies show that pets at home can actually reduce allergies in kids from a young age only.
- Helps in weight loss: A dog needs regular exercise and as a pet owner you always try to keep your dog healthy. Exercising your dog on a daily basis makes you exercise as well and it helps you to shed some extra kilos. Regular physical activity makes your bones stronger and can help in preventing osteoporosis. Being outside also exposes you to the sun, which is a good source of vitamin D.
Owning a dog not only helps in mental peace but also has a lot of physical health benefits. So go out and enjoy with your furry friend!
Happy Pet Parenting!
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