Pets help to keep our heart healthy.
Having a pet has been shown to decrease the risk of heart disease, and lower blood pressure.
According to the American Heart Association, owning a pet has several health benefits.
Dog owners are 54 percent more likely to get a healthy amount of daily exercise.
One study looked at a group of people who were all at risk for having high blood pressure, and were going to adopt a dog.
Half of them waited to adopt their pet.
After two and five months, the half that went ahead with the adoptions ended up having lower blood pressure than the group that didn’t adopt a dog.
The results of that study said: “Interestingly, at later follow-up, after all study participants had adopted dogs, systolic blood pressure was found to be similarly lowered in the deferred-adoption group as well.”
Another study that compared married couples that owned a pet or didn’t own a pet showed that pet owners had lower heart rates and lower blood pressure.
They also recovered faster from stressful situations when they were with their pet rather than with their spouse or a friend.
