What can the benefits of owning a pet be? Do they serve a beneficial purpose?
The answer is owning a pet can have multiple different benefits for one’s mental and physical health.
They can provide stress reduction, anxiety relief, a sense of purpose, increased physical activity, and can overall enhance a person’s life. The reasons behind stress reduction and anxiety relief are actually scientific; when owning an animal, they can prompt one’s body to release serotonin and other hormones that help you relax. They can give a sense of purpose by giving a person something to take care of and watch over. This can help a person feel important and needed if they have something that is relying on them for food, exercise and other tasks. The National Institute of Health States, “Interacting with animals has been shown to decrease levels of cortisol (a stress-related hormone) and lower blood pressure. Other studies have found that animals can reduce loneliness, increase feelings of social support, and boost your mood.” This goes into further detail about the scientific effects that animals can have on your mental health. This can also help lead us into the idea of animals helping with depression. When you are forced to move and build a routine it can help with depressive episodes or moods.
Some believe that animals are a burden, and this may be due to the type of animal one chooses. For example, there are some people who are dog people and some who are cat people. They may feel a greater connection to a certain animal which can help them feel more motivated to care for it.
In order for people to see the benefits that owning a pet can provide, we need to run more experiments showing actual differences between people who own an animal and people who don’t. It could also be beneficial to get people who are struggling with mental health a source to later purchase a pet that is best fit for their situation. The reason a lot of people don’t own a pet is because they are unsure in their ability to care for one, but once they give it a try they will be more confident and also may begin to take better care of themselves.
Overall, yes owning a pet can boost mental and psychical health in many different ways. It gives a person a routine, something to live for and can help with movement because animals need to play and be walked. Although it is hard work, eventually once you get it down it is less of a chore and more of a blessing.
