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· How dogs keep you in good health

 

Much research has suggested that having dogs as pets is related to improved physical health, according to reviews of the existing literature. These findings have not changed. Dogs ‘push’ their owners to exercise on a daily basis. Research published last year in Medical News Today found that keeping a dog reduced a person’s chance of early death by up to a third. In addition, experts at Harvard University in Cambridge, MA, believe that dog owners have a lower risk of heart disease. However, the benefits may appear as a result of a number of variables related to lifestyle changes that people undertake after deciding to acquire a canine companion. Physical exercise is the most significant of these lifestyle factors. There is no getting around it: if you get a dog, you must commit to twice-daily walks, if not more. According to a report published in The Journal of Physical Activity and Health, dog owners are more likely than non-pet owners and persons who own pet cats to walk for leisure purposes.

 

· Dogs make people feel good

 

The most obvious advantage of sharing your life and home with a canine companion is that canines quickly offer you “feel-good vibrations. “Dogs are frequently utilized as therapy animals because they are relaxing to individuals. Even after a long day at work, it’s tough not to smile when you’re welcomed with — frequently vocal — joy by a nice dog. According to studies, this is due to the influence of the “love hormone” oxytocin.” Animal aid in therapy, teaching, and care has substantially risen during the last decades,” wrote the authors of a review published in Frontiers in Psychology. Furthermore, dogs appear to lessen depression symptoms and make people more robust to stress. As a result, dogs are frequently used as therapy animals. As researcher Brian Hare, of Duke University in Durham, NC, remarked in an interview for The Washington Post:

 

“Dogs make people happy, and their sole purpose is to make people in stressful situations feel better.”

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