Probably they are, although the data are mixed. Some studies from the 1980s suggested that there may be a connection between ownership of pets and better health.
Probably they are, although the data are mixed. Some studies from the 1980s suggested that there may be a connection between ownership of pets and better health.
However, a review of more recent studies that were published last year in the British Medical Journal, denies that. For instance, scientists could not confirm that having a pet was linked to a lower risk of heart disease, that pet owners had fewer physician visits, or that having a pet increased the physical and mental health of older adults. The journal stated that children who have pets miss fewer days at school. It also reported that that swimming with dolphins can lessen human depression.
Due to a statement of Dr. Leonard C. Marcus, a veterinarian and people doctor from Newton, even if pet ownership has no proven benefit, pets are good for our health because they ‘’provide companionship, they are a source of comfort, and people who have difficulty communicating with other people can express themselves freely with pets”.
Except other things, Marcus said, owning a dog means that the owner has to get exercise.
Perhaps the most exciting research on interaction between pet and human is a Californian study that was published in the journal Integrative Cancer Therapies in January. Scientists trained normal, household dogs to diagnose with high accuracy which people are ill with lung or breast cancer. The dogs detected the disease by sniffing the breath of people.
Advice? Get a pet. Human members of a family are great but our cats or dogs are those creatures that welcome us purring or barking, every time we come back home.
