Medical Self-Care: How Pets Keep Us Healthy
by Tom Ferguson, M.D.
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Is it possible. that a dog leaping and barking with joy
when you return home, a cat curled and purring in your lap,
or a fish swimming peacefully in a tank can reduce your
blood pressure, alter the course of heart disease, and
decrease your stress level? Recent studies suggest they can
do this and more. "I believe the day is coming when doctors
will sometimes `prescribe' pets instead of pills," says Dr.
Leo Bustad, dean of the College of Veterinary Medicine at
Washington State University. "What pill gives so much love,
makes its owner feel safe, stimulates laughter, encourages
regular exercise, and makes a person feel needed?"
Pets and Heart Disease
When University of Pennsylvania researchers studied a group
of seriously ill heart patients, they found that the pet
owners had much better survival records. In the year the
study lasted, the death rate for patients who did not own
pets was 28%. Pet owners had a death rate of less than 6%
Another study looked at the effects of pets on older
people. A British psychologist gave a parakeet to each
person in a group of senior citizens. Members of the
control group each got a begonia. After five months there
was a noticeable increase in health and morale among the
pet owners. Swedish researchers found that 15% of the
elderly persons studied considered their pets to be their
most significant social contact.
Other health effects have also been documented: Petting the
soft fur of a dog or cat can profoundly lower blood
pressure. Watching fish in a tank is for many people as
effective a way of relaxing mind and body as any
tranquilizer or meditative technique.
A number of studies suggest that people who own pets are
generally in better health than those who do not. These
positive effects seem to hold for every kind of pet studied
so far, including—but not limited to—dogs,
cats, gerbils, parakeets, chickens, fish, mice, rabbits,
and iguanas.
The researchers who performed the study of heart disease
patients mentioned above concluded that having a pet
decreased a person's risk of dying by about 3% per year.
This would put owning a pet in roughly the same category as
other health-promoting behaviors such as eating a healthy
diet, exercising regularly, managing stress, not smoking,
being in a committed-couple relationship, and having close
ties with family and friends.
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