Health Benefits of Pet Ownership

There are many positives when it comes to owning pets. The advantages  include overall wellness, emotional support, increased levels of physical health, and more.

Your Blood Pressure Will Lower

Although certain studies have found the connection to be stronger than others have, owning a pet has the potential to lower your blood pressure. This is most evident in patients which are high-risk and/or hypertensive, says the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, or CDC.

Dr Marty Becker, veterinary consultant for Good Morning America and the author of Your Dog: The Owner’s Manual, has unequivocally stated that having a dog around lowers blood pressure.

His reasoning for it is quite logical, too, with him connecting this lowered pressure to the fact that stress overall is being reduced. As Dr Becker put it, while you could conceivably lost your job, your spouse, or your house, you will never lose the unconditional love your pet gives you.

Your Mood Will Improve

As fun and profitable as pokies online may be, your dog, cat, bird, or other type of pet is probably doing more for you in terms of your overall mood.

Many of the health benefits of owning pets stem from the distinct emotional and mental benefits they bring. Dr Becker says that those of us who have pets are not as harried as those who do not, and there is far more laughter in the former group than there is in the latter.

When you get home, no matter who you are, you’re a superstar, for example, and that’s why pets are used so much in various therapies.

The Walter Reed Army Medical Center has started using dogs to assist soldiers struggling with Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, or PTSD. According to Dr Kay Nelson, an associate emergency vet at the VCA Alexandria Animal Hospital in Virginia, men who have pets are re-entering society a little more easily than those who do not. This group is showing a lower rate of suicide, too, which is one of the biggest threats that veterans face.

You Won’t Have as Much Pain

Turns out laughter isn’t the best medicine, pets are! This becomes very evident when persons dealing with chronic pain like arthritis or migraines is concerned.

Since levels of anxiety are so much reduced, so is the pain, and a Loyola University study found that patients who incorporated pet therapy into their everyday lives after undergoing surgery need considerably less pain medication than those who don’t, overall.

You Won’t Stress Out as Much

The State University of New York at Buffalo, in the USA, found, in 2002, that people tasked with getting something stressful done experienced less strain when there pets were with them. More so even than when a close friend, family member, or spouse was nearby!

The Promises Treatment Centers, which specialise in treating those suffering with addiction, not only recommend that their patients get a pet, but also allow these inside the rehabilitation facilities.

The Chief Executive Officer, CEO, David Sack, stated that one of the institutions’ core beliefs that obstacles that prevented people getting help needed to be removed.

Their commitment was to creating a reassuring, safe home-like environment within the centers, and pets accompanying their troubled owners created that feel.