This coming Sunday I will be taking my fur nephew Miles (above)
for a fun run with about 350 other people at the Furry Friends 5km in Whitby ON. This race has influenced me to write a post
regarding the positive benefits of owning a pet, particularly a dog which can
help to increase your health and vitality.
As a former dog owner myself, being around a selfless, spontaneous and at
certain times mischievous animal can help boost your spirit at times when you
need it most!
“If your dog is fat,
you’re not getting enough exercise” - unkown
Some health benefits of having a dog are obvious. Whether it is play fighting, walking or
jogging, you are forced to get off the couch and move. Many studies have shown that owning a dog
can help to avoid a sedentary lifestyle.
Increasing regular exercise, such as leisure walking can help to
decrease the risk of certain cardiovascular conditions. One study showed that pet owners have lower
systolic blood pressure which is the driving force of the contracting heart, than
non-pet owners. Another study showed
lower plasma cholesterol levels, as well as triglyceride levels in pet
owners. It is even reported that dogs
may show adverse behaviour if their Type 1 diabetic owners are having
hypoglycemic episodes which could help their owner avoid an adverse health
event. Finally, pet owners who suffered
a heart attack had higher 1 year survival rates than their non-pet owning
counterparts.
More intriguing perhaps than the cardiovascular benefits are
the psychological benefits of owning a pet.
Most pet owners do not get a pet to reduce sedentary behaviours but
rather to have companionship and an improved quality of life. In a study that followed just under 1000
participant for one year, it was found that pet owners had fewer doctor
contacts than their counterparts without pets.
It has also been reported that HIV positive men that own pets suffer
less from depression.
The authors of one article proposed a theory of how pet companionship can improve
cardiovascular health, by reducing emotional stress. Increased emotional stress leads to a barrage
of negative effects on the body. This is
caused by increased sympathetic nervous system function. We developed this over thousands of years
when we had to worry about Saber Tooth Tigers.
If you turned a corner and met up with a tiger you would instinctually
fight back or run away (fight or flight).
Nowadays the Saber Tooth Tiger has been substituted for commuting, work
deadlines, family stressors etc. Short
durations of this type of emotional stress is good because it can help us get
away from the Tiger. However, when long lasting,
this type of stress can lead to chronic disease. Among other things like exercise, owning a
pet can psychologically decrease or limit stressful sympathetic activity. This decreases potential endothelial
dysfunction, chance of cardiac arrhythmias and sudden death, as well as high blood
pressure through decreased kidney activity.
There are some studies that show negative effects of pet
ownership, for example the distress it may cause the owner when their pet is
sick or passes away. However, in my
opinion the positive effects on health far out-weigh the negative. Although the relationship between pet
ownership and well-being can depend on social factors and demographics, we could
learn a thing or two, and improve our health if we owned a pet.
I hope to see you all Sunday!
Until next time, stay healthy my friends!
Dr. Adam
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