Pets make our lives more emotional, vibrant, and fun. No matter where you live, in a house or apartment – it’s worth it.
Create Your Perfect House – Five Reasons to Having Pets at Home
Science has not yet been able to unequivocally answer the question of why we love our pets so much. Where they came from is clear – according to theory, a person first tamed a wolf. Both received benefits from cooperation – the first received a live security system, the second – food and a warm berth. But today we are guarded by walls, doors, and locks, and we start dogs, cats, parrots, and hamsters with other motives – rather emotional.
Modern researchers agree that pet ownership has pros and cons for health, work, and other aspects of human life. There are many reasons to get and keep an animal in your home.
Pets Help Fight Anxiety and Make Us Calmer
It has been experimentally proved: communication with animals restores a person’s state of peace of mind and normalizes blood pressure. The high efficiency of feline therapy (communication with cats) was established according to the results of the experiment, in which 200 people suffering from depression, neurosis, and sociophobia took part. It turned out that cats are one of the most effective non-drug ways to restore mental balance. And dog owners, in turn, have better immunity. After all, they have to walk four-legged friends in any weather.
Besides, cats and dogs live in many rehabilitation centers. After all, pets help the production of the hormone oxytocin, which is responsible for attachment, and reduce the level of the hormone cortisol, which is released during stress or danger.
Stroking a pet calms, reduces the level of anxiety and stress, and this trick works even with those who do not consider themselves lovers of cats and dogs. This happens due to lower levels of cortisol, the so-called stress hormone, and increased production of oxytocin, which is called the hormone of attachment.
It is known that oxytocin can be produced even with eye contact between a person and a dog: the longer they look at each other, the more oxytocin is in the blood of both. The famous biologist Robert Sampolsky calls this phenomenon “interspecific oxytocin tango,” which appeared over twenty thousand years, which are insignificant for evolution.
In general, most pet owners are confident that pets have a positive effect on their psychological state, help cope with negative thoughts, and cheer up.
Pets Help Us Be Organized and Disciplined
You need to walk with the dog, play with the cat and cut his nails, feed, and clean the fish in the aquarium – any pet needs time that needs to be freed from your busy schedule. It is not for nothing that children have pets to teach responsibility – this technique also works with adults. With the appearance of the animal in the house, you make adjustments to the daily routine and your life. Typically, such innovations are beneficial – you will wake up earlier, walk the dog, feed the cat, etc. Even small turtle needs attention and everyday clean up. It doesn’t matter what kind of pet you have: in any case, you have to adapt to its needs.
And it is very useful! You will value your time more, better manage with it, and plan your affairs more carefully. And the dog – as a leader in instilling discipline – will teach even a lazy person a clear daily routine. This is the case when taking responsibility for another is not only pleasant but also useful.
Pets Help Our Physical Health
According to statistics, pet owners turn to doctors five times less often. Scientists from Scotland have established a relationship between health status and the presence of animals. Of the ten thousand people who took part in a large-scale study, strokes and heart attacks were much less common with pet owners. Besides, some animals act as “indicators” of the state of their owner – so, the cat begins to show much more attention to the owner when its person is in an irritated state that is dangerous for the cardiovascular system.
Also, American scientists conducted a ten-year study involving four thousand people. They found that a neighborhood with a cat can reduce the risk of death from myocardial infarction by almost a third. Cardiologists praise cats and dogs as excellent “fighters” with high blood pressure and heart disease. People who started a dog, in most cases, forgot about pressure problems. And the process of stroking a cat reduces the risk of a heart attack by 40%.
Pets Teach Us to Love and Gain New Knowledge
Serious studies have shown that explaining the habit of having pets is impossible from an evolutionary point of view. Their content requires significant resources, which means that there is no direct practical meaning. According to the popular hypothesis, a person thanks his pets make up for what he lacks in real-life – communication with nature, loyal friends, and love.
But there is one more circumstance – domestic animals can experience the same complex, contradictory feelings that people experience: devotion, affection, even jealousy. Animals are an example of unselfish love that we are happy to share with them.
There is also a rule that works in 100% of cases. If you have a pet, you will feel bad mood and loneliness much less. When you are sad, caress your pet or watch him, the groom. You will not notice how you begin to smile – and a bad mood will be defeated. Just the sight of a beloved being sets up a wave of positive.
This approach helps you not to feel lonely even in the darkest periods of life, to feel support, and to cope with difficulties faster. It is not a matter of whether the animal empathizes with us and tries to support and reassure with rumbling or by poking its nose into the hand. What is more important is our interpretation of the pet’s behavior and the subjective feeling of support. People convinced of the loyalty of their four-legged (or, for example, feathered) friends feel better even when looking at their photographs.
According to a large-scale Harvard study, loneliness is almost the main factor that harms human health and happiness in the long run. In this sense, a pet that loves you with unconditional love, regardless of its financial and social status, physical and mental condition, can greatly improve the quality of life.
Moreover, we teach animals, they teach us. When planning to have a pet, you will learn a lot of useful information. Read about it, get acquainted with its features, consult with breeders, and other experienced people. When a pet appears in your house, you adapt an apartment for it, learn to care for it in practice, go through its life stages with it, you develop together. Pets enrich our knowledge, make us more inquisitive, give invaluable experience.
Pets Teach Us to Resist Addictions and Promote Recovery
Animal therapy (treatment with the help of animals) is practiced in the Scandinavian countries in combination with medicinal methods against any type of addictions. An animal from a shelter is assigned to a recovering patient – he must take care of a living creature, and this requires a sober lifestyle.
Besides, the low-frequency purring and rumbling of cats promotes faster healing of wounds and fractures and can even strengthen bones – that is, when a cat lies on a wound, it heals it. Dogs also help recover from illnesses and surgeries, but due to social mechanisms and the same oxytocin – specially trained dog therapists show particularly impressive results.
In some cases, doctors may recommend that their patients have a pet in cases of intractable diseases. It has been found that animals motivate people to fight cancer or mental illness. And under the Paws for Purple Hearts program, they train Labradors and retrievers to help veterans deal with post-traumatic disorders.
And also pets, especially those who walk on the street, can change the composition of our microbiome. Its diversity is directly related to immunity and general health. Scientific research has shown that the presence of a cat in a house can introduce twenty-four new types of bacteria into a home microbiome, and dogs – fifty-six. This contributes to the development of immunity, makes the body more seasoned and ready to withstand disease.
Conclusion
Having a pet in your home has a lot more advantages than disadvantages. You will become more healthy, responsible, and disciplined, and negative emotions will visit you much less often. But remember that this is also a responsibility to your pet. Therefore, before you become its owner, think about whether you are ready to create ideal conditions for him, whether you are ready to devote the necessary amount of time to him, to feed him on time, etc. Depending on this, make the right decision (for example, you can get fish that require less attention than a dog). And let your friendship with your beloved pet be long and full of pleasant emotions.
About the Author:
Brenner Thomas is a blogger who enjoys writing articles about home decoration and house security. After working as a writer for various media publications, Brenner decided to start his own blog top10pack.com where he covers topics of lifestyle, house decoration and home security.