Owning a dog can benefit many in significant ways

In a society plagued by increasing social and economic stressors as well as

mental health challenges, dogs have taken an important role in our lives. For decades, dogs have been known to serve as loyal companions providing social, emotional and therapeutic benefits, and the research backs up this common understanding too.

Owning a dog is extremely beneficial on multiple different health aspects of life. Research shows that having experienced living with a dog, people experience less stress, lower blood pressure, and overall more peace and secureness. According to Scientific American, dogs have the ability to significantly improve physical activity as well as movement in general. 

In particular, dog ownership has also been linked to reduced stress hormones and improved mental health as a whole as well as increasing one’s life span. Dogs can improve mental wellbeing, too. In a study published in MDPI by Emily L. R. Thadwell, university students were assigned to either watch videos of a dog or interact directly with a dog. The results indicated that participants in both groups experienced a reduction in their anxiety and an improvement in their mood over time. However, unsurprisingly, those who directly interacted with a dog experienced a greater decline in anxiety and improved mood scores overall. Another study by John P. Polheber, Robert L. Matchock also illustrated this stress reducing effect. Their study tested the impacts of being near a dog before and during taking a stress test (which contains an arithmetic and speech task, intending to create stress for the test-taker). The group that interacted with a dog right before the test fared better overall, having a reduced heart rate and reduced cortisol levels during the test. 

This impact was directly measured against the alternative of having a friend with the test-taker before and during the test, and the results indicated that having a dog with the test-taker was more helpful than a friend. The researchers proposed this was due to concerns of judgement by other people, a concern that doesn’t exist for a dog, which acts as a supportive, non-judgemental companion.

(Photograph: Ella Grimberg)

The same article by Scientific American concluded that the benefits of owning dogs comes from our continued relationships with them, too. Dog ownership has been tied to improving people’s social functioning in particular by providing unconditional love and loyalty, emotional stability, and physical affection.

Furthermore, interacting with dogs can boost your production of “happy hormones” such as oxytocin, serotonin and dopamine. This can lead to a greater sense of well-being and help lower levels of the stress hormone cortisol.

For those that work from home especially, dogs can benefit people’s mental health.They’re capable of reducing work-related stress, managing anxiety, increasing the activity of their owner and combating loneliness. 

However, dogs are always meant to serve as a support system, not medical intervention. Even therapy dogs are meant to support people, not treat serious underlying mental health or medical conditions. They can help people develop coping skills, become and stay more active, and manage their anxiety.

The interdependence of humans and pets: a fulfilling bond (Photograph: PetSure)

The American Heart Association notes that overall, dog owners tend to live longer than non-dog owners.There is also a correlation to better recovery from major health events (such as a heart attack or stroke) for dog owners, especially if they live alone.

Dogs have also long been well-known helpers to people with various disabilities, such as sight or mobility issues. 

Beyond simple companionship, dogs have a tremendous amount of impact on humans’ health, both mental and physical. Dogs reduce stress, get their owners active, help people live longer overall, even improve recovery from major health events. They’re more than just our pets, and do an incredible amount for our health that often goes unnoticed.