Dog owners live longer and fare better after a heart attack or stroke compared with those who have no canine companions, two studies published Tuesday suggest.
loneliness
Four-legged friends can also be a source of social support. “Dog-owners are also reported to have more social interaction with other humans,” Fall said. The results weren’t a surprise, said the study’s lead author, Dr. Caroline Kramer, an endocrinologist and clinician scientist at the University of Toronto’s Mount Sinai Hospital. A lot of smaller studies, including some that randomized people to either adopt a dog or not, have shown that having a canine companion can lower blood pressure, improve cholesterol and reduce the risk of depression, Kramer said.
While the studies don’t prove that dog ownership leads to longer lives — they can only show associations, not causation — there have been studies showing that the companionship of a dog can lower levels of the stress hormone cortisol, said Neda Gould, an assistant professor and director of the Mindfulness Program at the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine.“When the stress response is turned on too frequently, it leads to a lot of wear and tear on the body in general,” Gould said.
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