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Want to improve your health? Get a pet
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As I've mentioned in earlier articles, having a pet enhances your life in many amazing ways. My life is infinitely better - healthier, happier, and more fun - since the addition of my cat and my dog. A pet makes you live in the NOW so much more than humans are accustomed to, largely because pets are so present in the moment - I'm hungry now! I want to play now! I want to sleep now! Pets really do throw you full force into a happier and therefore healthier place.
Studies have shown that pets aid mental and emotional health, but apparently they create a better sense of physical well being too. Did you know that infants who are around pets from an early age grow up with fewer allergies and a lower risk of asthma? Did you know that simply looking into a fish tank can lower your blood pressure? Did you know that children and adults respond better to virtually all forms of physical and behavioral therapy with dogs present?
I know that my health has improved since the addition of my pets. My dog forces me to get up off the couch and go out jogging at moments when I really just want to stare at the television set. Her need for exercise and entertainment gets me out of bed on the mornings when I am unmotivated to get up and out. I exercise more, I laugh more, and I am more social with my neighbors when I'm out walking the dog. My cat, on the other hand, has aided my emotional wellbeing by waiting for me at the front door and cuddling with me even when I'm having a terrible day. Somehow, they know when you're having a bad day and are extra-loving and supportive. It is that interaction which changes our health for the better.
"It's the human-animal bond," said Veterinarian R.K. Anderson, who helped to found CENSHARE at the University of Minnesota more than 30 years ago. CENSHARE (Center to Study Human Animal Relationships and Environments) is a center dedicated to supporting and collecting research on the many positive effects pets have on people. Anderson believes "It's [how animals are] non-judgmental and always being there for you."
Studies have further shown that pets create a sense of family, which reduces loneliness, which in turn reduces depression and heart disease. We feel connected to our pets, and accepted by them, in a way that helps our immune system to fight off illness. We're needed by our pets - they need us healthy so we can interact and care for them.
Having scientific proof that having pets do make people healthier has lead to some changes in the law. One change has allowed pets to live at and to visit nursing homes and senior centers. Many studies have shown that pets help elderly folks have less memory loss and more joy. The more that we interact with animals of all types, at any stage of our life, the better off we are.
