Health & Medicine
Man's Best Friend May Help Your Heart Health
Kathleen Lees
First Posted: May 10, 2013 10:31 AM EDT
They make us happy and they give us complete loyalty. And it just so turns out, they might even make us live longer, too!
According to the American Heart Association, having a pet could be an added bonus to a healthy life.
If you're a dog lover, especially, a new study suggests that this pet could give you some much needed heart health.
"The data is most robust for people who own a dog," says Glenn Levine, a cardiologist with Baylor College of Medicine in Houston. But he says there's reason to believe cats and other pets are helpful, too.
Levine and colleagues looked at various research on pets and heart health. While the study results are not definitive they do suggests the following:
-Dogs help keep owners more active through walks. In one study, dog owners were 54 percent more likely than other adults to get recommended levels of exercise.
- Interacting with a pet can lower stress responses in the body.
-Pet ownership is associated with lower blood pressure and cholesterol levels and less obesity.
One of the studies in particular had researchers compare people with borderline high blood pressure who adopted dogs with others who also wanted dogs but were randomly assigned to delay the adoptions for purposes of the study. Those who brought home dogs saw declines in blood pressure and were less likely to see their blood pressure and heart rates rise in response to stress.
Most other studies involved comparing pet owners with those who did not have pets, meaning researchers could not rule out the possibility that people who had pets were just healthier to start with.
In any case, the experts don't recommend that people with heart health problems adopt, rescue or buy pets just for the potential heart health boost.
The main reason to get a pet should be "to give the pet a loving home" and enjoy the relationship, Levine said.
"We also not do not want someone to go out and buy a dog and then be content to sit on the couch and smoke."
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First Posted: May 10, 2013 10:31 AM EDT
They make us happy and they give us complete loyalty. And it just so turns out, they might even make us live longer, too!
According to the American Heart Association, having a pet could be an added bonus to a healthy life.
If you're a dog lover, especially, a new study suggests that this pet could give you some much needed heart health.
"The data is most robust for people who own a dog," says Glenn Levine, a cardiologist with Baylor College of Medicine in Houston. But he says there's reason to believe cats and other pets are helpful, too.
Levine and colleagues looked at various research on pets and heart health. While the study results are not definitive they do suggests the following:
-Dogs help keep owners more active through walks. In one study, dog owners were 54 percent more likely than other adults to get recommended levels of exercise.
- Interacting with a pet can lower stress responses in the body.
-Pet ownership is associated with lower blood pressure and cholesterol levels and less obesity.
One of the studies in particular had researchers compare people with borderline high blood pressure who adopted dogs with others who also wanted dogs but were randomly assigned to delay the adoptions for purposes of the study. Those who brought home dogs saw declines in blood pressure and were less likely to see their blood pressure and heart rates rise in response to stress.
Most other studies involved comparing pet owners with those who did not have pets, meaning researchers could not rule out the possibility that people who had pets were just healthier to start with.
In any case, the experts don't recommend that people with heart health problems adopt, rescue or buy pets just for the potential heart health boost.
The main reason to get a pet should be "to give the pet a loving home" and enjoy the relationship, Levine said.
"We also not do not want someone to go out and buy a dog and then be content to sit on the couch and smoke."
See Now: NASA's Juno Spacecraft's Rendezvous With Jupiter's Mammoth Cyclone