A Study Reveals That Pets Help Combat Stress

Among the many benefits and many joys that give us, the pets help fight stress and many of the consequences it causes in our bodies and psyches. This is revealed by a study from the State University of New York at Buffalo, published in the journal Psychosomatic Medicine .

Caressing or playing with your dog or cat, then, can be better medicine than pills and therapies and techniques of all kinds and colors.

Causes of stress

The dictionary of the Royal Spanish Academy defines stress as the tension caused by overwhelming situations that cause psychosomatic reactions or sometimes serious psychological disorders.

Among the causes that trigger it we can highlight:

• Excessive pressure or workload
• Retirement or job loss
• Accidents or illnesses

• Family or partner conflicts
• Divorces, removals, death of loved ones or births
• Economic difficulties
• Final exam preparation

Pets help fight stress

A good dose of exercise, a bit of meditation, consulting with a health professional or taking certain medications are alternatives that you can use to combat stress.

But people who live with pets know that the best option to get rid of stress and see the world with good eyes again is to have a good time with your pet : taking a walk, playing, or simply stroking it can change radically. your state of mind and eliminate the burden that different situations cause you.

So if you did not choose to share part of your life with a dog or cat, better rethink the subject. In addition to all the love they have to give you, living with pets can bring you multiple benefits.

An animal, the best medicine

In addition to the fact that pets help combat stress , they also help reduce the effects it causes on our body.

Thus, people who live with domestic animals present:

• Decreased blood pressure
• Stable cholesterol
• Reduced risk of cardiovascular diseases

Let’s take an example: research conducted on a group of New York stockbrokers who were hypertensive – and people prone to stress – showed that those who owned dogs or cats had lower blood pressure and heart rates than those who did not own of domestic animals.

Benefits of taking the dog to work

At the moment it is not something usual, but taking the dog to the office seems to be a good option to reduce work stress and improve the performance of all staff. At least that is what research conducted by professionals at the Virginia Commonwealth University School of Commerce and published in the International Journal of Workplace Health Management shows .

According to the researchers, the people who attended to work with their dogs had much lower stress levels than those who did not.

This study was the first to focus on the relationship between dogs and work environments. Previously, the help provided by these animals in hospitals and retirement homes had been demonstrated .

Animals as therapeutic aids

The benefits that pets bring to our lives are increasingly recognized, both physically and emotionally. For this reason, the use of dogs and cats for animal therapy is increasingly common in:

• Schools
• Hospitals
• Penitentiary and juvenile centers
• Neuropsychiatric
• Nursing homes

More advantages of living with pets

In case you had any doubts about how good it is to have a pet, here are other reasons why you finally decide to adopt one:

• You will increase your physical activity by walking or playing with your four-legged friend; yet another way to make your stress disappear

• You will increase your social life  by interacting with other pet owners during walks or visits to the vet

• If there are children in the house, they will learn to be more responsible, compassionate and generous

In addition, babies under one year of age decrease the chances of developing allergies to pets as they grow older.

In short, if you choose to live with a pet, you will not only suffer less stress, above all you will be a healthier and happier person. So love and take good care of your four-legged friend.