These days we have been neurotically checking the CDC’c website for updates in ways to manage the current pandemic, one interesting thing we came across was a sound and supportive commendation of owning a pet. Is this why adoptions are booming? Could this be a cure for the Quarantine Blues?
There are many health benefits of owning a pet. They can increase opportunities to exercise, get outside, and socialize. Regular walking or playing with pets can decrease blood pressure, cholesterol levels, and triglyceride levels. Pets can help manage loneliness and depression by giving us companionship. Most households in the United States have at least one pet.
Studies have shown that the bond between people and their pets can increase fitness, lower stress, and bring happiness to their owners. Some of the health benefits of having a pet include:
- Decreased blood pressure
- Decreased cholesterol levels
- Decreased triglyceride levels
- Decreased feelings of loneliness
- Increased opportunities for exercise and outdoor activities
- Increased opportunities for socialization
CDC.gov
A pet's gift:
- Unconditional Love and Acceptance
No opinions, judgements or verdicts. And always happy to see you!
“In a Johns Hopkins Depression & Anxiety Bulletin, Karen Swartz, MD, mentions a recent study that found that nursing home residents in St. Louis felt less lonely when they spent quiet time with a dog alone than when they visited with a dog and other residents.
The study enrolled 37 nursing home residents who scored high on a loneliness scale and were interested in receiving weekly half-hour visits from dogs. Half of the residents had quiet time alone with the pooches. The other half shared the dog with other nursing home residents. Both groups said they felt less lonely after the visit, but the decrease in loneliness was much more significant among the residents who had the dogs all to themselves.”
- Pets alter our Mindspace
We calm down, we slow our minds. Meditative aids – helping us to get our focus on the now, because a pet’s life happens only in the now. We are able to shift and relate, helping us take our minds off the consistent noise of anxious thoughts.
- Pets are a healthy distraction
Instead of ruminating on the pandemic, pets need to go outside, walk, and require affection. We are forced to change our environment to take care of their immediate needs, all the while, getting our own needs met in the process.
4. Pets promote touch
Touching is healing. Research indicates that a 45-minute massage can decrease levels of the stress hormone cortisol and optimize our bodies immune system by building white blood cells. Getting hugged gives us a surge of oxytocin, a hormone that reduces stress and lowers blood pressure and heart rates. In a study done by UVA, holding hands can reduce stress-related activity in the hypothalamus region of the brain, part of our emotional center. Stroking a dog or cat can lower our blood pressure and heart rate while boosting levels of serotonin and dopamine. Pets yearn for affection and in turn promote healthy doses of affection each day to those of us keeping our distance during these times.
- Pets make us responsible
Responsibility promotes mental health and self-esteem. By being responsible pet owners, we reinforce to ourselves that we are capable for caring for ourselves and another. For children pet care harvests self-mastery and independence. Taking care of pets brings healthy structure to our lives, everyone in the home gets on a schedule, a healthy pet requires a daily regimen for comfort and happiness.
- Dogs get us healthy
Bolstering our immune system, keeping us mentally balanced, lowering our blood pressure and heart rate while increasing levels of serotonin and dopamine, our pets have the ability to not just be our best friend, but a healthy jolt of much needed wellness.
Becoming responsible based on LOVE and WELLBEING is the most healing duty we can ever partake in. At Jovial Pet, we believe in the symbiotic relationship between humans and pets and we develop products that cater to the happiness and wellbeing of our unconditionally loving mates.
Pet adoption services: