Health benefits of dog ownership!!!
Dogs make us feel better!!!
I spoke a couple of entries back about the mental health benefits of having a dog. It is truly amazing what a dog can do to help the psyche of their human owners.
However, dog ownership can also help their owners physically. Statistics prove that the survival rate of people who have had a heart attack is significantly increased if they own a dog. If someone who doesn’t have a dog has a heart attack, their survival rate is 1 in 15. However, dog ownership increases those chances of survival to 1 in 87. Those are pretty great odds. Also, simply having a dog lowers the risk of heart attacks occurring at all.
People who own pets generally have better health than those who don’t because having a dog means the dog has to be exercised and cared for. In doing so, the physical benefits of that exercise is carried over to the owner as well as the dog.
Having dogs in our lives can positively affect our blood pressure. It has been shown that women who are undergoing stress is lowered more by having dogs around them than friends. Perhaps that is because don’t disagree with us like friends might. Children undergoing a physical examination had lower blood pressure, decreased heart rate and less behavioral distress when there a dog was present during the exam.
In nursing homes where they have pet companion therapy programs, patients seemed to have a lower need for perscription medication and fewer minor health problems. Lower cholesterol and triglyceride levels were found in people who had dogs as opposed to those who did not.
So mentally and physically, dogs do improve our lives!!!
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