Dogs and Health Benefits

Any dog owner can tell you that there are many benefits to having a best friend. However, there are many other benefits as well to having a loyal pet. Dogs have been a part of the human experience for many years and are excellent companions for people. There are many other studies out there as well that are showing that there are many other benefits and ways that pets can assist human health.

One of the major studies that was just released was the Dog Ownership and Survival After a Major Cardiovascular Event. The study found that there were many benefits to dog owners when they were looked at in comparison to those that do not own dogs. Here are a few of the benefits.

1. There is a 33% lower risk of death by heart attack for people who live alone after a hospitalization.
2. There is a 15% lower risk of death by heart attacks for those people that are living with a partner or a child.
3. There is a 27% lower risk of death in stroke patients that are living alone as well after hospitalization.
4. There is a 12% lower risk of death in stroke patients that live with a partner or with a child.

When gathering all this data, there was a study that used the Swedish National Patient Register to look at the group of patients that was aged 40-85 and that had issues with their hearts between 2001 and 2012. When looking at all this information, the dog ownership data stood out sharply compared to other factors.

Being a dog owner encourages the parents of dogs to get up and to keep moving. What that also means is that the owners of dogs are going to be healthier and they are going to be able to stay healthy. By being able to get exercise it helps to combat all the sedentary issues. There is a huge benefit to staying active for the pet owner and combatting loneliness.

In another study, there was an examination of over 3.8 million people who were examined in 10 studies. The study found that compared to non-dog owners, dog owners had:

1. A reduced chance of mortality by 24%.
2. A 65% reduced chance of death following a heart attack.
3. A 31% reduced risk of death from heart related issues.

When looking at all these studies, there were also many positive correlations that were left to be looked at between health and dog ownership. There was not a causation though that could be pointed to very easily.

While there are many interesting finds in the studies, there is not enough evidence to point to the fact that a dog should be assigned to every person. However, there is a lot of evidence to show that there is a link. But if you are not a dog person, there is no reason to worry, it is possible to have any kinds of pet will help people with their health. At the end of the day, a companion of any kind will help and that will mean many benefits for you.