Improve Your Health and Wellbeing – Get a Pet!
Pets can have a positive impact on our mood and mental state. Spending time with a pet can increase the production of endorphins, the brain’s feel-good chemicals, which can help to boost our mood and decrease feelings of depression. In addition, pets provide unconditional love and companionship, which can help to combat feelings of loneliness and isolation. Many people became new pet owners during the pandemic for this very reason. For individuals prone to mental health struggles, pets can provide a distraction and disruption from distressing symptoms, such as ruminating negative thoughts. Using animals to promote mental wellness has been formally adopted by hospitals, nursing homes and other facilities. Animal-Assisted Therapy or Pet-Facilitated Therapy (PFT) has been shown to be a valuable adjunct to traditional medical and psychological treatment approaches. Dogs, cats, rabbits, horses and even llamas have been used in pet-assisted therapy and have shown to have beneficial events in a wide range of conditions such as post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), depression, Alzheimer’s disease, dementia, and autism. Studies also suggest that, when combined with treatment from a telehealth clinic for hormone therapy, pet ownership can improve a woman’s menopause experience. There is some evidence to suggest that the human-animal bond may reduce the risk of suicide, a health threat that disproportionately affects U.S. military veterans.
