Why Owning a Pet May Be Better Than Popping A Pill

Dog and cat owners everywhere have suspected it for years, but now we have the proof they've been waiting for: Owning a pet is one of the best forms of stress release, and may boost your health in other ways. At the end of a long, hard day, don't reach for fattening chocolate, artery-clogging comfort food, or a bottle of wine. Reach for your pet.

Fido and Tiddles are the perfect natural remedy for stress, anxiety and depression, studies have found. Owning a dog or a cat may also help prevent serious health events, such as a heart attack or stroke.

Here we explore how our pets repay our devotion with years of health benefits.

Reduced Stress

Did you know that playing with a dog or a cat for just 15 to 30 minutes reduces stress and boosts your mood? When you play with a dog or cat, stress-busting hormones Serotonin and Dopamine are triggered, calming us down and making us feel happier. Meanwhile, our stress hormone, cortisol, starts to go down. High cortisol levels are a result of stress.

You don't have to lay aside any specific time. Interacting with your pet - playing with a piece of string or a ball, stroking, and routine care - all work to trigger your Serotonin and Dopamine and reduce your cortisol.

Stress can also cause a rise in blood pressure. Owning pets reduce blood pressure, with one study finding that, when patients with borderline hypertension (high blood pressure) adopted a dog from a shelter, their blood pressure was significantly lowered within five months.

Lower Cholesterol

Interestingly, Tiddles can be better at lowering cholesterol than Statins (cholesterol lowering medication), a 2006 Canadian study revealed. Cat owners have also been found to have lower cholesterol than those who don't have cats.

Reduced Risk of Stroke and Heart Attack

Owning a cat can reduce the risk of heart attack and stroke by a third, working by: reducing anxiety, lowering blood pressure, and steadying the heart rate. A longitudinal study examined 4,435 adults aged between 30 and 75, approximately half of whom owned a cat. The 10 year study found that 3.4% of cat owners had a heart attack or stroke over a ten year period, compared to 5.8% of non-cat owners. Even taking into account lifestyle choices such as smoking and health issues such as diabetes, cat owners still had a much lower chance of stroke or heart attack than non-owners.

Another 20-year study by the University of Minnesota (2008) found that cat owners were a huge 40% less likely to die of a heart attack than those who did not own a cat. The results remained the same, even taking into account risk factors such as age, blood pressure and smoking. Dog owners, however, do not reap the same cardiovascular benefits as cat owners, although a separate study found that dog owners who have heart attacks survive longer than heart attack patients without dogs.

READ Ways Pets Make You Healthier

Help for Autistic Children

Having a pet can dramatically improve the level of social interaction for Autistic children. Autistic children can live in their own locked-in world, but researchers from the University of Missouri claim having a pet can help to open up the child's world. When they compared the social skills of Autistic children with pets to the social skills of Autistic children without pets, they found that Autistic children with pets had far greater social skills.

It was discovered that Autistic children who had any kind of pet in the house are more likely to introduce themselves, ask questions and respond to the questions of others.

More Health Benefits Of Pet Ownership

Help for Depression

If you have depression, there are many ways that pet-ownership can help you:

Unconditional love: With a pet, there is no need for explanations. You can just feel the way you feel and your pet will love you, and never try to offer any unhelpful advice like, "Chin up! There's others' far worse than you!"

Responsibility: Having someone to take responsibility for can add new focus and purpose to your life. You will be able to remember that you are needed, and capable. As Ian Cook, MD says: "Taking care of a pet will give you a sense of your value and importance."

Activity and Routine: A dog needs to be walked daily; a cat needs for you to get up early in the morning to change the kitty-litter. It you're barely able to get out of bed, these simple routines can help. Pets inspire you to perform necessary tasks and the additional physical exercise that you have to do feel purposeful. In time, this extra physical activity improves our emotional health by triggering a release of endorphins and reducing immune system chemicals that can worsen depression.

Companionship: Depression is isolating. A pet provides you with a friend who loves you and ensures you're never alone. That can make all the difference.

Touch: Studies show that depression improves when we have physical contact. Pets provide that physical contact, whether it's petting a cat sitting on your lap or stroking a dog lounging next to you on the couch. This touch also steadies your heart rate, helping you to feel calmer and more relaxed.

Dogs Equal Greater Weight Loss

Dog ownership has been linked to weight-loss many times:

• A year-long study found that owners walking an overweight dog helped both the owner and the dog losing weight. Research suggests the dog supports the owner in the same way as a human weight-loss buddy would, only without judgment or other potentially-negative side-effects
• Residents who walked therapy dogs for 20 minutes a day lost 14.4lbs in a year without changing their diet.

Better General Health

People with pets make fewer visits to the doctor than those without pets, with one study finding that pet owners over 65 years old make 30% less visits to health care professionals than non pet-owners, including doctors and hospitals.

READ Steering Clear Of Pet Health Hazards: How Not To Get A Pet-Transmitted Disease

One Chinese study of women found that dog owners reported better sleep, fewer sick days, more frequent exercise, and better fitness levels.

Pet owners have also been found to have a longer lifespan than people who don't own pets. This is partly caused by pet owners getting lower heart rates and blood pressure levels by stroking or being near pets.

One American study looked as stockbrokers who were already on blood pressure medication and asked them to perform a series of stressful tasks. It was found that those with pets had significantly lower blood pressure and heart rates.

Should I get a pet?

Getting a pet is not a decision to be taken lightly. While they can have many health benefits to their owners, the pet's needs must be paramount. Before you consider getting a pet, ask yourself these questions:

• Do I have the money? Can I financially support this pet? Can I afford its food, its vet bills, vaccination, medication if it gets sick, possibly for the next 20 years?
• Do I have the time? If you work outside the home from early in the morning until late in the night, you may not be a fit guardian for a dog. A dog whose cooped-up all day will not make a calming companion. Dogs are social creatures and need mental and physical stimulation. It's often underestimated, too, how much mental stimulation a cat needs. A cat left alone for long periods with no stimulation will become distressed and destructive. You need to have time to devote to a pet.
• Can I make a commitment? Many breeds of dog, and increasingly cats, can live for up to 20 years. Are you willing to make a whole-life commitment to your pet?
• Do I accept that owning a pet can curtail my social life? That I can only leave my pet for a short period of time; that training takes time; that spur-of-the-moment vacations are a thing of the past, as I must ensure my pet is taken care of as a priority?

If you decide to get a pet, seek out a shelter or a reputable breeder.

Your new pet will reward your time and attention with unconditional love, companionship and years of health benefits that we are just beginning to understand.

For those of us who already share our lives with a cat or a dog, all we have to do to continue to enjoy years of health benefits is continue to enjoy petting our pooch and coddling our cat.

And that's not too much to ask.