Cats are cool and all, but mounting evidence suggests that dogs are approximately 1,000 times better. A new study published in the Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health has come to the (obvious) conclusion that having a dog is good for your health.
Not only do our furry BFFs help reduce stress and lower blood pressure (suchagoodboy), they also help us stay active. The aforementioned study found that older people with dogs, on average, spent an additional 30 minutes per day being active—even when weather was inclement. In fact, the dog owners were more active on days when it was rainy/cold than the non-dog-owners were on nice days. The study looked at a sample of 3,123 participants between the ages of 49 and 91.
“Being driven by something other than our own needs might be a really potent motivator and we need to find ways of tapping into it when designing exercise interventions in the future,” says the project lead, Andy Jones.
Other benefits of having a dog include nose bops, sleepy paws and puppy snuggles. (Try getting those from a cat.)
