5 ways a furry friend can help our mental health
We all love our furry friends to bits! We feed them, we walk them, we have them as our phone wallpaper. But, they actually serve a lot more purpose than you might have thought.
Here are 5 mental health benefits you can gain from dogs:
1. They reduce stress
A quick way to manage stress is with movement and touch. Petting your dog can help to make you calm. Stress can be more dangerous than you think. It can affect your overall health and can promote a variety of diseases overall your whole body. Fatigue can also be a result from stress and can affect your everyday life greatly. With a dog they can help to reduce this stress and get you up and moving.
2. They reduce anxiety
Dogs can sense your anxiety and can reduce it heaps, especially if they are specifically trained in this field. Some of the negative effects that anxiety can have on your body are:
- Panic attacks,
- Breathing problems,
- Upset stomach
- Extreme Fatigue.
If not attended to in time, you can go from having a little bit of anxiety to having a full breakdown. Your dog can help to prevent this.
3. They improve your Cardiovascular health
How? You experience less cardiovascular reactivity during times of stress when you have a dog. This means that your heart rate and blood pressure go up less and return back to normal quicker, amazing right?
Improving your Cardiovascular health can have a lot of positive outcomes. One of the benefits are Improved blood flow. This can decrease the risk of heart disease, stroke and diabetes. This way, you will live longer and have more time to spend with your furry friend!
4. They reduce feelings of loneliness
They are just great companions and make us feel needed which is important to us as humans. Research have shown that people who desire more relationships than they actually have tend to develop feelings of loneliness, which can lead to symptoms of depression. Dogs not only love us back, but they see us as their family.
5. They help to build a healthy lifestyle
Dogs can help us build healthy habits. They love going on walkies and writing letters to the other dogs in the community, so you will be out and about on a daily basis. Walking is one of the best exercises, according to the American Heart Association (AHA). Not only does this benefit your mental health, but also your dog’s mental health.
Have you ever felt depressed and energy deprived after sitting around at home the whole day? Your dog is probably in the same boat as you, and just wants out. Ten minutes a day will be more than sufficient at first, then you can gradually lengthen the time and try out different routes to keep things interesting.