Benefits of Pets for the Elderly
August 15, 2014/0 Comments/in McBloomLaw /by Patricia Bloom-McDonald
There are many ways that pets can enrich the lives of their owners. The benefits to our physical and mental health are sometimes overlooked though. A popular trend in senior health news, in particular, is that pets can greatly improve senior health, sometimes being the determining factor in how long a senior can stay independent in their own homes.
Senior Health Benefits
Pets have been shown to have the following effects on senior health:
- Stress reduction
- Lower blood pressure
- Exercise, keeping the elderly from infirmity
- Helping owner fight loneliness, reducing depression
- Pets give owners something to focus on
- Allows the owner to feel truly useful, taking care of another living thing
- Affecting senior health, studies found that heart attack survivors with pets would ultimately live longer than their pet-less counterparts. Petting their pets lowered these patients’ blood pressure, and increased their oxytocin levels (oxytocin is a feel-good chemical in your brain).
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