Living with a dog helps you live longer, science says so!
Well, if you needed another reason to love dogs, two recent studies show that your furry companion is great for your health, happiness, and longevity!
How your dog can help you live long and healthy?
- A person who shares his life with a dog gets to have more exercise hence lower blood pressure.
- Pet parents also get a good dose of endorphins, the chemicals that help to relieve pain or stress, and boost happiness.
- Interacting with dogs helps release oxytocin, the so-called “cuddle hormone”. So next time you are home, try to veer off from the smartphone screen and try to enjoy some time with your dog.
- Kids who grow up around dogs are 50% less likely to develop allergies and asthma than those who grow up without a dog.
- The companionship of dogs is literally good for your heart – it even reduces symptoms of depression.
Dogs help reduce the risk of dying early by 24%.
New Research from the University of Toronto, suggests that dog ownership is linked to a 21% reduction in the risk of death — over the 12-year period studied — for people with heart disease.
The researchers drew on data from almost 4 million people in the U.S., the U.K., Canada, New Zealand, Australia and Scandinavia, spread over almost 70 years.
For those who had already had a stroke, the risk of death due to a heart attack was decreased by 31% as compared to stroke survivors who didn’t have a dog.
Can dogs detect health issues in humans?
Dogs use their superior sense of smell to pick even the minutest scents either in the urine, breath etc. that humans (and machines) often can’t detect. There are ‘cancer sniffing dogs’ that have been trained to detect cancer and are way better and cheaper than some of the best scientific equipment.
Dogs have phenomenal accuracy even when it comes to sniffing out the coronavirus.
Another Swedish study of more than 3,36,000 dog owners and non-owners who had suffered a heart attack or stroke, found that the risk of death for heart attack patients who lived alone — but had dogs — was 33% lower than the solitary adults without dogs.
“We know that social isolation is a strong risk factor for worse health outcomes and premature death. Previous studies have indicated that dog owners experience less social isolation and have more interaction with other people. Furthermore, keeping a dog is a good motivation for physical activity, which is an important factor in rehabilitation and mental health.”
~Tove Fall, professor at Uppsala University, Sweden
Aside from being loyal and loving companions, dogs are indeed the good boys you’ve heard people say they are. So take forth a healthy step for a positive outlook on life, and bring home happiness.
Want your dog to live longer?
Dog lovers would do anything to help their furry friends live longer, remember Frankenweenie? The grief of losing a pet putting to smithereens the hearts of kids and grown-ups alike. Now, there are startups and medical research firms like Dog Aging Project, Vaika and Loyal developing drugs intended to extend the lifespan of your pooch.
We understand that there may be no magic pill that would double the lifespan but incremental improvements, and a pain-free, healthy life extension is what the scientists are working on.