National Love Your Pet Day

If the calendar had worked out perfectly, we’d be introducing a new topic today – about the effects of stress on your heart. But things don’t always go the way we plan, and because today is National Love Your Pet Day, we interrupt our scheduled programming to talk about your furry friends. And we’re not even the least bit stressed out about it.

It’s no secret that having a pet can improve your life and lower stress. And what’s not to love? Dogs and cats (and even exotic pets) love us unconditionally. It doesn’t hurt that most of them are adorable, too!

While we consider this an emotional attachment rather than a health-based relationship, studies show that pets help us live healthier lives.

Thanks, Bella and Buddy and Luna and Max (some of the most popular pet names this year), for all you do to make us happier and healthier.

Our pets can:

• Calm us down. Several studies illustrate people with dogs or cats have lower heart rates, cholesterol and blood pressure levels than those without furry family members. Pet owners also experience smaller blood pressure and heart rate spikes when stressed.
• Make us more active. One study reported that people who adopted dogs began walking between 22 and 30 minutes more per week.
• Reverse disease. A cat’s purr can reduce stress and lower blood pressure, and the frequency of a contented cat’s sound (vibrating between 25 and 150 Hertz) can improve bone density and healing.

Remember, as poet Anatole France once said, “Until one has loved an animal, a part of one’s soul remains unawakened.”

---