Dogs are know as being man’s best friend. Everyone who owns a dog knows the feeling of having their four legged friend run up to them with their wet noses nudging on their leg begging for a head scratch and how their tales wag tirelessly out of joy when in our presence. But other than those moments, our dogs do so much more for us. Studies have shown that dog owners have lower blood pressure and help children get over allergies. They also are able of relieving stresses from an individual.
Recently, there have been multiple observant studies done at locations such as at the University of Missouri – Columbia how have noticed hormonal changes in individuals dealing with depression and large amount of stress. Studies have shown that after a few minutes of stroking a four legged friend led to the release of “feel good” hormones, including serotonin, oxytocin, and prolactin. In addition, petting our pets lead to a decrease in the amount of the of stress hormone, cortisol.
Throughout the past 20 years or so, there also have been correlations that have been found, all in this NBC News Article. They state
d that “In 1995, Erika Friedman at the University of Maryland Hospital conducted a study involving 392 people, which found that heart attack patients with dogs were eight times more likely to be alive a year later than people without dogs.” Also that “In 1999, the State University of New York at Buffalo conducted a study involving 24 stock brokers taking medication for high blood pressure. The researchers found that adding a dog or cat to the stock brokers’ lives helped stabilize and reduce their stress levels.” Although these correlations may not lead to causation, due to the amount of correlations, they may be enough to lead one to believe that dogs are indeed, great stress relievers.
So as one can see, our dogs do indeed make great stress. It has already been proven that these common household pets posses the ability to reduce an individuals blood pressure as well as now, reduce our stress by increasing our “happy” hormones as well as reduce the amount of our stress hormones. Penn State even offers puppy petting during finals week in to serve as a stress reliever. If you feel too stressed out at times, turn to your pooch for a huge relief.
Sources Used:
http://animalsmart.org/species/dogs/dogs-help-reduce-stress
https://www.purina.com/dogs/getting-a-dog/do-dogs-help-relieve-stress
http://www.health.harvard.edu/blog/therapy-dog-offers-stress-relief-at-work-201107223111
http://www.today.com/health/5-ways-pets-can-ease-your-stress-6C10423970
I have two dogs so it was really interesting to read this. I know that when I get stressed I like to sit on the couch with them and just watch TV or take a nap or something. This is definitely accurate that dogs do relieve stress. I bet certain dogs do a better job of this than others and some dogs might even cause stress… It would be interesting to see a study done on how the type of dog would affect such a thing.
This post was very intriguing, considering I am a dog-lover. One thing that I did think of while reading this article though, was could the study by Erika Friedman, was she specifically looking for the results of having a dog? Or was she looking at many different variables, which could cause the Texas-sharpshooter problem? Either way, I thought this was a well written post, and a very fun topic to explore!