{"id":501,"date":"2024-12-18T07:29:44","date_gmt":"2024-12-18T07:29:44","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/192.168.10.18\/arslan\/Demo\/GeekyBot\/?p=501"},"modified":"2025-01-08T05:12:41","modified_gmt":"2025-01-08T05:12:41","slug":"pets-and-other-animals-can-boost-health-and-well-being","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/demo.geekybot.com\/index.php\/pets-and-other-animals-can-boost-health-and-well-being\/","title":{"rendered":"Pets and other animals can boost health and well-being"},"content":{"rendered":"
When Percy Lee has a bad day, he hangs out with his chinchilla, Rin. \u201cShe\u2019s like emotional support for me,\u201d says the 14-year-old. Percy, who lives near Kansas City, Kansas, and is the author\u2019s nephew, particularly enjoys snuggling with Rin and watching her explore. \u201cWhen I get upset and overwhelmed, playing with her is one of my main coping mechanisms,\u201d he says. Percy isn\u2019t alone. After a long day, lots of people enjoy unwinding with their pets. They might find comfort in cuddling a cute cat or petting a playful pup. Even spending time with non-snuggly animals, like turtles or fish, gives many people a boost. Kerri Rodriguez studies the bonds between people and animals at the University of Arizona in Oro Valley. \u201cOne of the biggest bene\ufb01ts of having a pet is that they never judge you,\u201d she says. \u201cThey don\u2019t care if you said something silly, if you have a ketchup stain on your shirt or if your breath smells,\u201d Rodriguez says. Often, pets are simply happy to see us. They make us feel loved. That animal affection may have benefits that go far beyond temporary mood boosts. Researchers like Rodriguez have found that pets can reduce stress, strengthen people\u2019s immune systems and perhaps even help them learn. Understanding such perks better might inspire people to spend more time around animals, improving their mental and physical health.\r\n
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Cuddling an animal can improve our mood when we\u2019re feeling down.<\/span>ADENE SANCHEZ \/ E+ \/ GETTY IMAGES PLUS<\/span><\/figcaption>\r\n<\/figure>\r\n<\/div>\r\n

Lowering stress<\/h4>\r\nPatricia Pendry is a developmental psychologist. At Washington State University in Pullman, she has spent years studying how stressful home environments affect kids\u2019 health. That inspired her to search for ways to reduce children\u2019s stress \u2014 including spending time with animals. In recent experiments, Pendry has investigated whether hanging out with animals has a measurable effect on the body\u2019s stress system. Pendry\u2019s work focuses on a\u00a0hormone<\/a>\u00a0called cortisol. The body makes more of that hormone when people are stressed. It makes less when people are calm. Pendry measures cortisol in the saliva of college students before, during and after spending time with animals. Sometimes the animals are specially trained therapy dogs that have been brought to campus. Other times, they are\u00a0cats<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0dogs<\/a>\u00a0brought in by the local humane society.\r\n
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Petting an animal is good for us and them, as long as we respect their boundaries.<\/span>NATABA \/ ISTOCK \/ GETTY IMAGES PLUS<\/span><\/figcaption>\r\n<\/figure>\r\n<\/div>\r\nWhen students arrive, they spit into a tube to provide a\u00a0saliva sample<\/a>. Then they spend the next 10 minutes doing one of four things. Some go into a room to pet the visiting animals right away. A second group watches the petting group while waiting in line. A third group looks at photos of the animals but doesn\u2019t see them in person. The last group waits to get into the room without any glimpse of the pets. The students provide two more saliva samples to measure cortisol during and after that 10-minute window. Students who petted the animals had lower cortisol levels<\/a>\u00a0at the end of the 10 minutes than any other group, the data showed. Interacting with animals reduces how much cortisol the body makes by boosting its levels of oxytocin (Ox-ee-TOH-sin), Pendry believes. Oxytocin is a hormone that helps calm the stress system. \u201cAs you\u2019re petting and stroking in this rhythmic way, your body makes oxytocin,\u201d she explains. But people don\u2019t even have to touch an animal to get that response.\u00a0Simply making eye contact with a dog<\/a>\u00a0can raise a person\u2019s oxytocin levels, other research suggests. It\u2019s only just become possible to measure oxytocin in spit samples like those that Pendry collects. So she hasn\u2019t yet studied in detail how higher oxytocin levels might lower cortisol levels. But Pendry plans to see how both hormones respond to animal interactions in her next project.\r\n
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The body may release oxytocin, a hormone that helps calm the stress system, as someone pets an animal in a rhythmic way.<\/span>LITTLECITYLIFESTYLEPHOTOGRAPHY\/E+\/GETTY IMAGES PLUS<\/span><\/figcaption>\r\n<\/figure>\r\n<\/div>\r\n

A calming presence<\/h4>\r\nThe calming effect of animals can help some people overcome specific challenges. For instance, there\u2019s some evidence that reading aloud to dogs can help kids improve their reading skills. Reading to a dog is thought to provide support to students, helping them feel more confident in learning new skills. In one 2020 study in Australia, researchers brought therapy dogs to four schools. First and second graders who struggled to read had one-on-one sessions with the dogs. They read to the animals, getting help from an adult as they needed it. Over the course of 12 weeks,\u00a0the children improved their ability to read<\/a>\u00a0and felt more confident about reading.\r\n
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Some research suggests that children can improve their reading skills by spending time reading to a pet.<\/span>KALI9\/E+\/GETTY IMAGE PLUS<\/span><\/figcaption>\r\n<\/figure>\r\n<\/div>\r\nTherapy dogs can help kids in other stressful situations, too. A 2021 study found that therapy dogs could\u00a0reduce kids\u2019 anxiety while they had their teeth cleaned<\/a>\u00a0at the dentist. That doesn\u2019t mean animals will make anyone feel calmer in any situation, Rodriguez says. \u201cI know this is a bit of a bummer thing to say, but animals aren\u2019t magical cures to everything.\u201d In her research, Rodriguez is trying to\u00a0figure out when animals can help<\/a>\u00a0and when they may not. Someday, she hopes people might use those interactions as an alternative form of medicine \u2014 treating anxiety with snuggle time the way they might treat a headache with Tylenol.\r\n