According to the National Institutes of Health (NIH), 68% of households in the United States have a pet. Pets are thought to help people by decreasing stress and improving cardiovascular health. The NIH and Mar’s Corporation WALTHAM Centre for Pet Nutrition have teamed up to support research examining such questions, but the results have been mixed.

According to Dr. Layla Esposito, who leads the NIH Human-Animal Interaction Research Program, people should consider what they hope to gain from interacting with pets before deciding which type to adopt. For example, if someone wants to get more exercise, they might choose a dog that enjoys going for walks. If their goal is to reduce stress, they may opt for a laid-back cat or even a goldfish.

A study published in Complementary Therapies in Clinical Practice examining how interacting with dogs affects human health. Researchers measured heart rate, heart rate variability, blood pressure, and levels of a stress hormone in 33 adult humans during 10 minutes of interaction with dogs. These interactions ranged from visual (looking at a dog), tactile (petting a dog), active (performing tricks with a dog), or no interaction at all (no dog present).

The researchers found that greater levels of interactions with dogs were associated with higher heart rate and blood pressure, which was surprising as dogs are often assumed to lower blood pressure. Heart rate variability, on the other hand, was highest during more active interactions with dogs, suggesting that participants were less stressed during those interactions.

These findings show that the benefits of interacting with a dog, and likely other pets, depend on the type of interaction, which may explain why research on the subject has produced contradictory results. In addition, while one person might enjoy the boisterous personality of a border collie running nonstop laps around the yard…while barking…another might feel stressed just watching the dog do its thing.

Just in case you were wondering why Border Collies run in circles, this is how they herd sheep. Interestingly, they can run up to 30-40 miles per hour!

Sources

https://newsinhealth.nih.gov/2018/02/power-pets

Fuglsang-Damgaard LH, Lunde SJ, Christensen JW, Vase L, Videbech PB, Thodberg K. Human physiological responses to different types of human-dog interactions: A randomised crossover study. Complementary Therapies in Clinical Practice. 57: 101899, 2024. doi: 10.1016/j.ctcp.2024.101899. 

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Categories: Comparative Physiology, Diet and Exercise, Exercise, Intelligence and Neuroscience, Most Popular, Pets, Stress

Tags: animals, Border Collie, dog, dogs, health, heart, medicine, mental-health, nursing, Pets