Owning a pet comes with a lot of responsibilities. You have to make sure that the pet is happy, healthy, feed it, take care of it, exercise with it, and provide it with everything that it needs. However, if you look at the benefits associated with owning a pet, they outnumber the responsibilities or any problems that they (pets) might bring to their owners.
Pets are often associated with devoted companionship, unconditional love, and constant entertainment among other things. Pet owners know that their lives would never be the same without their pets.
However, is this knowledge solely based on what pet owners feel, or is there something else like science that can back it up?
Apart from the companionship and love that pet owners experience for keeping a pet, there are many other health benefits backed by science that they get to enjoy.
Some of these benefits include
1. Reducing Anxiety and Stress
Take, for instance, what the pandemic has done to most people. People were forced to isolate themselves and remain indoors without knowing when they would be able to move freely. Others lost their jobs and were left with no means of income. This meant that they were struggling to pay their bills. This led to a lot of stress and anxiety among most people across the globe.
Luckily for those that own pets, this was an easier experience. Pets are known, backed by science, to help reduce anxiety and stress among their owners. Some people even use animals such as dogs, birds, cats, and horses among others as their emotional support animals.
However, before getting a pet as an emotional support animal, you need to go through the process of emotional support animal registration. This requires one to be certified to suffer from an emotional disability that affects their day-to-day activities.
2. Reduced Heart Diseases
Did you know that people who own pets have very few chances of being infected with heart diseases? Well, research shows that pet owners have low levels of triglyceride and cholesterol that are the common causes of most heart diseases.
In addition, pet owners enjoy low blood pressure levels compared to those that do not own pets. This has been attributed to a hormone known as oxytocin. When pet owners are interacting or playing with their pets, higher levels of this hormone are released, leading to bonding. This reduces blood pressure levels.
3. Pets Improve Resistance to Allergies
Even though some people might argue that there is no way that pets such as dogs can improve their resistance to allergies because they themselves are allergic to dogs, research has proven that it is true that pets improve resistance to allergies.
Growing up with a pet makes children immune to allergies. In fact, children that live in homes with a pet have up to four times lower risk of being allergic to most things.
In addition, those that keep a pet when pregnant give birth to children with Oscillospira and Ruminococcus bacteria in their guts. These bacteria influence the gut microbiota of infants and help them fight allergies, obesity, and asthma.
4. Pets Improve the Ability of their Owners’ Immune Systems to Fight Illnesses
Well, the truth is that keeping a pet, especially a dog, leaves you exposed to a lot of diseases that might lead to serious infections. However, research shows that when the pets bring these diseases to their owners’ houses, the owners are exposed to them. This exposure ensures that their immune systems get stronger when it comes to fighting common sicknesses and diseases.
This explains the reason why pet owners are rarely sick. This, combined with the three benefits above, shows that pets are vital in helping us remain healthy.
5. Pets Help One Lose Weight
Finally, owning a pet means that you spend a considerable amount of time every day playing with the pet, walking, or even exercising. As much as pet owners might think that they are doing this to keep their pets fit and happy, they are also doing themselves a lot of good.
This is because it helps them lose weight, something that is important in avoiding obesity. Obesity can lead to so many other illnesses.
In conclusion, owning a pet is not an easy thing. However, spending time with pets is important for a person’s health. Research shows that pets help their owners both emotionally and physically. As shown above, pet owners enjoy all these science-backed benefits just for owning a pet.
Also read: Doga: Why is it the Best Fitness Activity to Keep You and Your Dog in Shape?
