The Benefits of Owning a Pet

Animals have always been at people's side for thousands of years, they helped people to overcome difficulties staying with them and loving them. Moving beyond the affection aspect, taking and caring for a pet has many benefits on a person's psychological, physiological, and communal health. Whether one is keen on dogs, a cat lover or videos as well as affectionate to exotic animals, ownership of a pet is not debatable.

Improved Mental Health

It carries endorsement to mental health and is one of the most popular benefits of owning a pet. Pets are good company, thus a pet will help reduce incidences of loneliness and depression among the users. Caring for an animal helps people release serotonin and dopamine-the hormones mostly linked with happiness and relaxation. People with anxiety get some form of relief from just touching a pet or just the company of one.

Physical Health Benefits

Having a pet, especially a dog that has to be walked, promotes physical activity. Taking your pet out for a walk or playing with him would also assist the pet owner be fit, free from high chances of cardiovascular diseases, and be of right weight. Research has also demonstrated that touching pets gives benefits; this reduces blood pressure and cholesterol. Besides, exposure to pets particularly to children improves their immune systems because they become immune to allergens and infections.

Improved Social Lives

With pets, people develop networks; they need others in order to help them look after their animals. For example, dog owners get to know people through walking, through other dogs, or because of events concerning pets. This could lead to a more social and supportive increased interaction. Moreover, it is obvious that having a pet is useful since they are great subjects for a conversation and they can help people who found themselves in the same location to develop a bond.

Structure and Routine

Having a pet means taking an actual responsibility for it and establishing some sort of routine. Taking a pet for a bath, feeding it and taking it for a walk can help especially where there is no schedule to follow. Due to this, the above routine proves most useful to learners or workers who have difficulty sticking to timetables; the elderly or those individuals who have other mental complications. They get a sort of purpose and chuffed feeling knowing there is at least one living being out there depending on them.

Counselling and Stress Management

Pets listen well and don’t judge the owner like humans do. This makes them ideal companions at such time. Classes of people include a lot of persons who would prefer speaking to their pets as they are interested listeners and they will not in anyway misinterpret their feelings. Additionally, bodily contact with a pet has been found to lower the cortisol level – the stress hormone – and gives one a relaxing feeling.

Benefits for Children

Generally speaking, it is good for families to have a pet, and getting one for children could be a perfect solution. Pets make children more responsible and raise the bar in terms of children being able treat others with care. It is also important because having a pet helps a child develop social skills or emotional intelligence. Moreover, as it was mentioned previous, which is effective from the pet's perspective, the early introduction of the kids to the animals makes them to be immune to allergies.

Companionship for the Elderly

Having a pet either to play with, or to cuddle with, comforted some of the residents, especially elders who live alone. It goes a long way in helping to reduced the effects of loneliness, which is a big problem among the elderly people, and more so those who live alone. They found out that for dog lovers, simple task like pet care can improve mood, enhance physical movement and give a meaningful reason to live. Owning a pet, especially dogs has also been found in some research to increase the lifespan and overall well being of old people.

Conclusion

The thing with owning a pet is not the fact that you have an animal to stay in your house; it is the relationship built between you and the animal. The life they provide us with companionship, the post-work exercise and playtime activities that they offer make it a worthy adventure. It is important to understand that like any other live creatures pets demand time, effort and money but the returns on the investment is enormous. Studies have shown that it doesn't matter what animal you would want to bring into your life, be it a dog, a cat, parrot, or any other amiable animal, you would be sure of being happy and healthier than before.

(Author's documentation) Three puppies that belonged to the writer.