Our fluffy friends are good for us too – says Science…!

Also, recently, another study has been published laying out how good for our mental state it is to be around pets (dogs in the case of the newest study)—a research project like this draws attention like this every few years, it seems.

The latest findings are profiled at: https://www.cnn.com/2022/10/06/health/petting-dogs-brain-study-wellness-scn(Sandee LaMotte, 2022, “What Petting a Dog Can Do For Your Brain”).  An excerpt: “You get to sit next to both of these fluffy friends and pet their fur. Guess which one will make your brain light up? If you guessed the real dog, you’re right. Stuffed animals, as cute and cuddly as they may be, just don’t supercharge our frontal cortex, the part of the brain overseeing how we think and feel. . . . ‘We chose to investigate the frontal cortex because this brain area is involved in several executive functions, such as attention, working memory, and problem-solving. But it is also involved in social and emotional processes,’ said study lead author Rahel Marti, a doctoral student in the division of clinical psychology and animal-assisted interventions at the University of Basel in Switzerland, in an email. Why is this finding important? It provides additional evidence that live human-animal therapy interactions may boost cognitive and emotional activity in the brain, Marti said.”

Study after study has shown that being around pets brings down our stress levels, calming us as we face the challenges of our days.

A study released just a few months earlier and discussed at https://www.cnn.com/2022/02/23/health/pets-brain-health-study-wellness/index.html (Sandee LaMitte, 2022, “Pets Can Boost Your Brain Power, Study Says”) indicates that “Having a long-term pet companion may delay memory loss and other kinds of cognitive decline, a new study has found. Pet ownership was especially beneficial for working verbal memory, such as memorization of word lists, according to the preliminary research. . . . Owning household pets for five years or more produced the most benefit, delaying cognitive decline by 1.2 points over the six-year period of the study compared with the rate of decline in people without pets, said clinical neuroimmunologist Dr. Tiffany Braley, an associate professor of neurology at the University of Michigan, via email. . . . ‘Prior research has also identified associations between interactions with companion animals and physiological measures of stress reduction, including reductions in cortisol levels and blood pressure, which in the long term could have an impact on cognitive health,’ [Braley] said.”