Animal ATTRACTION

Your four-legged friend can give you much more than unconditional love. Sarah Marinos looks at the research that proves the value of owning a pet

- Sarah Marinos

From easing pain after surgery to helping you make friends, pets can do this and more, research has shown! So just how does having a pet improve your health?

REDUCING THE RISK OF HEART ATTACK

Owning a cat may reduce your risk of dying from a heart attack by about 40 per cent. A study of 4 435 adults, carried out by the University of Minnesota, in the US, found that 3.4 per cent of cat owners died from a heart attack during the research, compared with 5.8 per cent of people who didn’t own a cat.

‘Studies about the benefits of stroking a pet are small but shouldn’t be discounted,’ says Dr Robert Grenfell, director of Cardiovascular Health at the Heart Foundation. ‘They show a reduction in stress hormones, which may be due to relaxation and the effects we see from that. If you’re stroking a pet you put your worries aside, and we know relaxation can decrease stress hormones and blood pressure.’

Pet ownership can also decrease depression and isolation – conditions which also put extra stress on your system and increase the risk of heart attack, Grenfell adds.

MAKING FRIENDS

People who owned pets found it easier to meet new people and start conversations, and were more likely to feel part of their neighbourhood.