“A dog is the only thing on earth that will love you more than you love yourself.” - Josh Billings
The benefits of furry friends: cats and dogs! Research shows that, unless you’re someone who really dislikes animals or is absolutely too busy to care for one accordingly, pets can provide excellent social support, stress relief and other health benefits — perhaps more than people! Here are more benefits of owning a pet:
1. Pets Can Add Structure to Your Life - All of us need some amount of structure in our lives. Pets are entirely dependant on their owners for exercise, food, and health care. So having a pet will undoubtedly instill structure into the owner’s life and will set a steady rhythm to each day.
2. Pets Are Date Magnets -Dogs are great for making love connections. Forget Internet matchmaking — a dog is a natural conversation starter.
This especially helps ease individuals out of social isolation or shyness. People ask about breed, they watch the dog’s tricks. Sometimes the conversation stays at the “dog level,” sometimes it becomes a real social interchange.
3. Pets Can Improve Your Mood -For those who love animals, it’s basically impossible to stay in a bad mood when a pair of loving puppy eyes meets yours, or when a super-soft cat rubs up against your hand.
Studies support the mood-enhancing benefits of pets.
4. Pets Encourage You To Get Out And Exercise -Playing with pets is in the top ten physical activity choices for children and families; owning a dog may encourage children to exercise and help reduce childhood obesity. Also an American study showed that those patients who owned a pet had a much better chance of surviving for more than a year after a heart attack — a difference that could not be explained by the extra exercise the dog owners enjoyed.
5. Pets Control Blood Pressure Better Than Drugs -Yes, it’s true. While ACE inhibiting drugs can generally reduce blood pressure, they aren’t as effective on controlling spikes in blood pressure due to stress and tension.
6. Pets Can Improve Family Bonds -Anyone who owns a pet knows that a pet quickly becomes a member of the family. As such, the family addition under the dinner table has tremendous benefits for you and the whole family.
Pets are great stress-busters in domestic situations.
7. Pets Are Allergy Fighters -It was once thought that kids who were raised up in a home with dogs and cats were likely to develop pet allergies and asthma. However, a growing number of researches have suggested that kids growing up in a home with “furred animals” — whether it’s a pet cat or dog, or on a farm and exposed to large animals — will have less risk of allergies and asthma.
8. Pets Stave Off Loneliness and Provide Unconditional Love -Pets can be there for you in ways that people can’t. They can offer love and friendship, and can also enjoy comfortable silences, keep secrets and are distinguished snugglers. And they could be the best antidote to loneliness.
9. Pets Can Reduce Stress — Sometimes More Than People -While we all know the power of talking about your problems with a good buddy who’s also a good listener, researchers found that spending time with a pet may be even better! Recent research shows that, when conducting a task that’s stressful, people actually experienced less stress when their pets were with them than when a supportive friend or even their spouse was present! This may be partly due to the fact that pets don’t judge us; they just love us.
10. Pets for the Aged -Researches have shown that individuals with Alzheimer have fewer anxious outbursts if there is an animal in the home. Their caregivers also feel less burdened when there is a pet, especially if it is a cat, which normally requires less care than a dog.
Whether you own a pet for therapeutic reasons or purely because you don’t know how to talk to people, the perks of owning one are abundant.
http://ririanproject.com/2007/11/28/pet-i-cure-10-benefits-of-owning-a-pet/
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Topic: Pet-i-Cure: 10 Benefits of Owning a Pet (Read 6404 times)