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5 Amazing Reasons to Pet (or Own) a Pet
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by Michele Shapiro
Updated September 28, 2022
In a bad mood? Try petting a dog for a few minutes. It doesn’t matter if it’s yours or someone else’s. What’s important is that you like animals and that Fido’s friendly. Petting perks run the gamut from physical to psychological and emotional.
Here's what research has to say about the connection between petting pets and brain health.
1. They flood your brain with a feel-good hormone.
A review of 69 studies on the effects of human-animal interaction published in Frontiers in Psychology concluded that the simple act of stroking a four-legged friend can yield significant benefits. A common thread in the research was an increase in a brain hormone known to lower stress hormone levels, bringing about feelings of calm, trust and relaxation. “We concluded that the activation of the oxytocin system, mainly via touch, is the key factor in explaining many of the effects of human-animal interaction,” says lead author Andrea M. Beetz, a psychologist with the University of Rostock in Germany and the University of Vienna in Austria.
2. They help you stay social.
“Animals are a wonderful social partner that provide the feeling of being needed,” Beetz says. A 2017 report by the Global Council on Brain Health — an independent collaborative of scientists, health professionals, scholars and policy experts — confirms the social virtues of pet interactions, describing dogs as social icebreakers that serve as a conversation trigger between strangers. As a result, dog walkers are more likely to experience social contact and conversation with other people than walkers without pets. This is particularly important for individuals over age 50 who may be empty nesters or might have lost a partner, says Kate Hodgson, a staff member in the department of continuing professional development, Faculty of Medicine, at the University of Toronto.
More than half of adults 40+ own a pet, according to the 2016 AARP Social Engagement and Brain Health Survey, which examined factors that influence social engagement, isolation and loneliness. While most pet owners say that their animal of choice offers them companionship, dog-only owners feel more strongly about this than cat-only owners.
Don’t own a pet? You can still reap the social benefits by offering to walk a neighbor’s pet if they’re ill or on vacation. Or consider earning a little spending money by listing your dog-walking services on an app like Wag! or a site such as Care.com.
3. They encourage healthy habits (and help you break bad ones).
One benefit of pet ownership is increased physical activity. A three-year study published in May 2008 found that there were significantly fewer obese dog walkers when compared with both owners who did not walk their dogs and nonowners. Another health benefit: fewer doctor visits. Surveys of pet owners compiled by German and Austrian researchers suggest that pet owners make about 15 percent fewer annual doctor visits than nonowners. What’s more, having a pet at home could alleviate the need for antidepressants because pets help to normalize brain chemistry.
In addition to encouraging good habits, owning a pet may also help you part with some bad ones. Hodgson, who’s both a vet and a researcher, coauthored a July 2015 review published in the Journal of the American Board of Family Medicine that found people are more motivated to break bad habits such as smoking when they have pets at home. “Once people know about the negative effects of second-hand smoke on pets, they’ll stop to protect the pet,” she says.
4. They’re good for your heart — and mind.
The National Institutes of Health (NIH) conducted several studies on people with pets. The findings suggest that pet owners exhibit decreased blood pressure, cholesterol and triglyceride levels, all of which can minimize their risk for having a heart attack down the road. In addition, seminal research published in the July-August 1980 issue of Public Health Reports found that heart disease patients with pets had better one-year survival rates than similar patients without pets. Numerous studies have shown that what’s good for the heart is also good for the brain.
Several other studies have looked at the effects of pet ownership and pet therapy on older adults’ cognitive and emotional well-being. In what has come to be known in research circles as “dognition” — the effect of pet ownership on cognition in older adults — scientists have found that dog owners over age 65 performed significantly better than nonowners of pets on cognitive tasks. In research conducted in the department of psychology at the University of Richmond in Virginia, for instance, older adults were individually tested on their memory for words in recognition memory tasks, and the dog owners performed better than cat owners and nonowners, perhaps because of the fact that having a dog keeps them active — both physically and mentally because they’re constantly having to remember to feed, walk and play with them.
5. They help reduce stress and anxiety.
Beetz’s review found that human-animal interaction leads to a reduction of stress-related measurements such as cortisol, heart rate and blood pressure, as well as self-reported fear and anxiety. Her research cites one study in which elderly residents of a nursing home with a resident dog reported less tension and confusion, compared with residents of a home without a dog. While many animal studies are small and more research is required, there’s no doubt that running your fingers through fur can have a calming effect. In fact, Hodgson often uses animals to teach mindfulness techniques. “We found with animals, the warmth and softness of fur, and in this case a cat’s purr, really help you stay focused and remain in the moment.”
• “Psychosocial and psychophysiological effects of human-animal interactions: the possible role of oxytocin,” Frontiers in Psychology, July 2012. In this review, researchers analyzed 69 studies on the effects of human-animal interactions, including animal-assisted therapy and pet ownership, on social interactions and on physical and mental health. The combined results showed evidence of positive effects such as improvement of social behaviors and mood; reduction in heart rate, blood pressure and cortisol levels; and improvement of mental and physical health. The researchers suggest that many of these effects could be related to the release of oxytocin from physical contact with animals. Read the full review.
• “The Brain and Social Connectedness: GCBH Recommendations on Social Engagement and Brain Health,” Global Council on Brain Health, 2017. This report summarizes expert consensus, based on available scientific evidence, about the importance of social engagement in maintaining thinking skills and slowing cognitive decline as people age and provides 12 recommendations to optimize and promote social connections. The authors acknowledge that pets can provide a form of social support and facilitate interactions with other people. Read the full report.
• "Physical activity, weight status, and neighborhood characteristics of dog walkers," Preventive Medicine, September 2008. In this study, researchers recorded the daily minutes of moderate to vigorous activity of 2,199 participants (20 to 65) over the course of a week. They found that a higher proportion of participants who walked their dogs met the national recommended amount of physical activity and that there were fewer obese dog walkers compared with people who did not have dogs or who did not walk their dogs. Though the study provides some evidence that dog walking could be a strategy for promoting physical activity, the researchers point out that dog walkers were more likely to live in highly walkable neighborhoods and that dog owners had higher incomes and were more likely to be white. Read a summary of the study. (A fee is required to access the full study.)
• “Pets and Human Health in Germany and Australia: National Longitudinal Results,” Social Indicators Research, May 2006. This study combines data from general population surveys conducted in Australia (1,246 respondents) and Germany (9,723 respondents) about pet ownership and health. The researchers found that the healthiest population group in both countries (people who made the fewest doctor visits) was people who currently had a pet and had owned it for at least five years. Read a summary of the study. (A fee is required to access the full study.)
• "Pets' Impact on Your Patients' Health: Leveraging Benefits and Mitigating Risk," Journal of the American Board of Family Medicine, July 2015. In this review, researchers lay out research demonstrating potential health benefits and risks of having pets. The potential benefits include enhancing feelings of happiness and security and facilitating social connections; encouraging regular exercise and healthy eating patterns; motivating people to quit smoking for their pet’s health; and helping with treatment plans for physical and mental health conditions. The potential risks include transmitting zoonotic diseases, causing injury and draining financial, social and emotional resources. Read the full review.
• “Pet ownership and cardiovascular risk reduction: Supporting evidence, conflicting data and underlying mechanisms,” Clinical and Experimental Pharmacology and Physiology, August 2011. In this review, researchers analyzed multiple studies about the effects of pet ownership on cardiovascular risk. Some studies show that dog owners are less sedentary, have lower blood pressure, cholesterol and triglycerides, and have improved survival after a heart attack than non-pet owners, but there is conflicting data for each of these factors. Read a summary of the review. (A fee is required to access the full review.)
• "Animal companions and one-year survival of patients after discharge from a coronary care unit," Public Health Reports, July-August 1980. In this study, researchers examined the relationship between pet ownership and one-year survival in 92 patients (ages 37 to 79) who had been hospitalized with a heart attack or symptoms of coronary heart disease. The researchers found that patients who had one or more pets had a better one-year survival rate than patients without pets. Though the researchers accounted for many variables, they suggest that this association could be due to differences in personality or social condition between people who have pets and people who don’t. Read the full study.
• “The Impact of Sustained Ownership of a Pet on Cognitive Health: A Population-Based Study,” Journal of Aging and Health, August 2022. In this study, researchers compared measures of cognitive function with pet ownership data in 1,369 U.S. adults older than 50. They found that participants over 65 who owned a pet for more than five years demonstrated higher cognitive scores than non-pet owners, but there was no significant difference in cognitive scores under 65, suggesting that sustained pet ownership could mitigate some loss of cognitive function in older adults. Read a summary of the study. (A fee is required to access the full study.)
• “A long-term study of elderly people in nursing homes with visiting and resident dogs,” Applied Animal Behaviour Science, April 1996. In this study, researchers examined the effects of dog visits on 95 residents at three nursing homes. The strongest effect was seen at the nursing home given a resident dog, where tension, confusion, depression and fatigue decreased in elderly residents and vigor increased. Similar, though less significant, trends were seen at the nursing homes where a dog visited once per week or a researcher without an animal visited once per week. Read a summary of the study. (A fee is required to access the full study.)
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