Simply looking at a pet can have a stress-busting effect
for malignant tumours. Research reveals that pet owners make fewer visits to the GP, while one study found getting a new cat or dog was associated with a reduction in the number of minor ailments a month after it arrived.
“Those who have pets tend to be more mobile and recover faster from some illnesses, but we need further research to find out why,” Dr Hall explains. “It could be that having a pet makes people active – they need to take a dog out for a walk or get up to feed the cat – but it could also be that having an animal distracts them from thinking about themselves and dwelling on more minor health issues.”
Even those of us with the best exercise intentions can find it hard to muster the energy for a stroll on a wet and windy day, so perhaps it’s not surprising that dog owners walk a greater distance each week and are more likely to get the recommended level of physical activity than people without dogs.
No doubt thanks in large part to the regular exercise, dog owners are also more likely to enjoy better heart health – one study published in the American Journal of Cardiology found they were 8.6 times more likely to still be alive after a heart attack than those without a canine companion. But as another study discovered that cat owners had a 30 per cent lower risk of death from heart attack than those who don’t have a feline friend, the benefits may not come purely from the daily walk. “Stress and some of the coping mechanisms people choose to address it – such as smoking, eating unhealthy foods and drinking excessive amounts of alcohol – can also be detrimental to the heart,” explains Maureen Talbot, senior cardiac nurse at the British Heart Foundation. “Owning a pet can lead to a lowering of stress levels, as both companionship and stroking a pet can reduce levels of the stress hormone cortisol.”
COMFORTING PRESENCE
The feel of warm, silky fur may calm you down but such is the comforting power of a pet that just having it in the room may be enough to help. “Stroking an animal certainly helps to reduce short-term levels of heart rate and blood pressure. However, simply looking at one can have a stress-busting effect,” Dr Wells explains. A study in Psychosomatic Medicine found that the presence of a pet dog or cat resulted in lower heart rate and blood pressure when carrying out a stressful task – even more than having a friend in the room. “It seems that the non-judgmental nature of pets can help to buffer us from stress much better, for example, than people,” Dr Wells continues.
Far from being a little ‘eccentric’, chatting to animals is part of their emotional appeal. “Pets can offer social support – talking to them allows people time to think through their problems,” Dr Hall says. “Importantly, pets just listen and don’t judge. Research shows that children will often confide in a pet over an adult.” It’s this pressure-free presence that means some schools are introducing reading-assistance dogs, such as The Kennel Club’s Bark & Read
Foundation, where children with literacy issues feel more comfortable reading aloud to a dog.
MAN’S BEST FRIEND
Just as dogs can boost the confidence of a child who is struggling with reading, so pets have the potential to bolster us all. People with pets report higher self-esteem, fewer feelings of loneliness and fear, and less depression than those who live without an animal in their home. “It may be due to the social lubrication effect of pets, particularly dogs. They encourage us to engage more with other people, which, in turn, can improve our social confidence and self-esteem,” Dr Wells says.
It could also be down to a feeling of companionship and the responsibility of pet ownership. A survey by Cats Protection and mental health charity Mind discovered that 87 per cent of cat owners who had a mental health issue felt their pet had a positive impact on their wellbeing, and 76 per cent said they could cope with everyday life much better thanks to the company of their feline friends. “Having a pet forces an individual to ‘get up and go’. A study we did on chronic fatigue saw that a pet gave people a reason to get out of bed in the morning,” Dr Wells explains.
If you can’t or don’t want to have pets, there’s still good news: research by Dr Wells found that even video recordings of birds and fish buffered people from stress. But for those of us lucky enough to enjoy a dog’s wagging tail when we get home, or the contented purr of a cat on a lap, there’s now even more reason to spend time with our four-legged friends.