In more and more urbanized societies, the space for people’s lives and activities is getting smaller and smaller, and people’s exchanges and interactions are also less and less, and dogs and cats can be good people’s life partners and can help us relieve the loneliness of our lives and regulate our mental health. Pets as our human companion animals are a source of our happiness and healthy lives for humans.
Keeping pets can make people live healthier and at the same time it is good for the human heart and can lower blood pressure and blood lipids. Anderdon [1] conducted a survey of heart disease risk factors between December 1987 and December 1990 and compared the results based on whether or not they kept pets. The number of participants in the survey was 5,741. Age 20-60 years old. As a result, it was found that the systolic blood pressure and plasma triglycerides of the pet owners were significantly lower than those of the pets without the pets.
Keeping pets is good for people’s mental health. Johnson [2] and colleagues specifically studied the relationship between attachment pets and health. They found that the emotional attachment of older people to pets is related to the reduction of their depressive symptoms. Later, they randomly sampled the 21-64-year-old population nationwide. As a result, after controlling for other characteristics of the subjects, only those in the 35-44 age group had no significant correlation with depressive symptoms. The results of other age groups are similar to those of previous studies. Attachment pets are associated with reduced loneliness (Lynch, 1977) [3]. Ory and Goldberg (1983)[4] found that between pets who were attached to pets and those who were not attached to pets. The former two are happier, and the higher the level of attachment to pets, the greater the sense of well-being.
Keeping pets can relieve people’s stress and keeping pets in an increasingly competitive society can provide spiritual support. The exchanges with pet dogs are beneficial to the mental health of the breeder and reduce various unnecessary pressures in life, thereby improving the efficiency of work. Dr. Karen of the New York University in the United States recruited some dogs and cats and grouped them with groups of non-animals for research purposes. After determining the static blood pressure and heart rate of each subject, each person was subjected to various physiological and psychological pressures, including mathematics problems or putting his hands into ice water, and then recording each person’s pressure on different situations. reaction. Including reactions in the case of a separate case and in the presence of a pet (if the subject does not have a pet to have his close friend present). The results of this study show that when performing mathematical calculations, when the subjects’ pets are on the floor, the heart rate increases much more slowly than when they were alone. In the presence of friends, the reaction to stress was most intense. This shows that pets can relieve people’s stress.
Keeping pets has significant benefits for people’s physical and mental health. People get healthier because they get pets.
Reference List
- Anderson WP, Reid CM and Jennings GL Pet ownership and risk factors for cardiovascular disease.The Medical Journal of Australia, 1997,157(5):298-301.
- Johnson TP, Garrity TF &Stallones LP- sychometric Evalvation of The Lexington Attachment To Pets Scale (Laps), Anthrozoos, Volume V, Number 3.
- Lynch JJ. The broken heart: The medical consequences of loneliness.New York: Basic Books, 1977.
- Ory MG &Goldberg EL 1977.Pet Possession and Life satisfaction in Elderly Women Companion Animal and Human Health.
