8 Ways To Help Your Pet Alleviate Tension

Finding time to walk the dog or clean the litterbox often feels like another assignment to cram into your busy day. But it is worthwhile. Here's why: Our pets really help alleviate the tension we experience in our everyday lives in many ways.

We are talking with Dr. Alan M. Beck, director of the Center for Human-Animal Bond at the Purdue University College of Veterinary Medicine, to learn more about how and why animals help relieve stress.

1. Your blood pressure, which is one physical indicator of stress, is lowered by simply being around an animal. Since studies by Dr. Beck and colleagues first revealed that petting a dog or cat decreases the reading of a person's blood pressure, this has also been shown to be true for other species. You don't even need to touch them, in fact. It is enough just to look: seeing fish in an aquarium has the same effect.

2. Our pets reduce our responses to stressful circumstances. In comparison to doing it in front of their partner, one study found that participants asked to perform a mental arithmetic task in front of their pets showed smaller rises in blood pressure and heart rate, which made it more stressful. So if your dentist has a fish tank in his waiting room, this effect could be exactly why; studies by Dr. Beck found that seeing fish beforehand decreases the tension of dental procedures being performed.

3. On average, pet owners get more exercise, particularly dog owners. "People have been recommending exercise as a way to cope with stress and depression for a long time, and there are strong data that dog owners are walking more frequently and enjoying longer walks," Dr. Beck claims that. Although you can not make it to the gym, which only helps you, your sense of duty for your dog is even more inspiring. And he thinks that cats can have some impact as well: "You don't sprint around the block, but at least you have to get up to get the toy from underneath the couch."

4. It is less likely for people with pets to claim that they experience isolation, which is one common cause of stress. This is both because animals provide companionship and because positive experiences with other people are encouraged. "Animals alter people's perception and their perception of you," he says. "We perceive a person with an animal to be more accessible. I wouldn't have walked over to you if I saw you in the street and didn't know you. But if you were with your dog, I would have walked over and said, 'What a sweet dog,"' he said.

5. Animals allow you to be in the moment. "Stress truly complains about the past and thinks about the future," says Dr. Beck. So holding your mind on the present will help relieve tension, as long as you put down the phone, and if it is a meditative stroll! Interacting with your pet keeps your attention on the moment, or a vigorous game of fetch.

6. By satisfying our need for touch, which we find soothing, pets alleviate stress. And what's more, they feel about it the same way. Not only can you notice the relaxation reaction while you're grooming a horse, Beck says, but place your hand on the horse, and you can feel its heart rate slowing down. The same thing when you are petting your dog: " At first, there's a certain enthusiasm, but then his heart rate decreases."

7. Pets appear to be helping to support emotions that make you more resilient to stress management. One research by Miami University and Saint Louis University psychologists found that pet owners had higher self-esteem and appeared to be less lonely, less afraid, less stressed and less concerned than people without pets, and that all of these traits were associated with experiencing less perceived stress. This long-term stress management aid may be why some studies have found that pet owners on average have lower blood pressure than non-owners.

8. " We find fun in watching them, and laughter," Dr. Beck says, "is another way to relieve tension."

And none of this is shocking, he says, because our relationships with our animals are so close to our relationships with other people in the company of a trusted friend, you feel less tension, and we see our companion animals as trusted friends.

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