Having been a pet owner for 18 years, I can certainly attest to the positive impact a “furry friend” can have on you when you get home from work. Just being in the presence of a little critter who seems to put you in a good mood and is always excited to see you is really something to experience. The bond between a person and their pet is a special one. It can deepen over time. You seem to give each other something that reinforces that bond.
So, in many ways a pet can be a health benefit and may even change the way you see the world. Owning a pet can affect our mental health.
The buffering effect a pet can have on the “psychological consequences” from chronic exposure to stress can be seen in the body’s systems, like the cardiovascular, nervous and immune systems.
Pets have been shown to actually reduce what is referred to as allostatic load. Allostatic load is a concept in the field of psychobiology. It has to do with the enduring impact being in a state of chronic stress has on the wear and tear of the body. Having a reduced allostatic load has certain ethnic and socioeconomic factors as well.
A study authored by Jennifer W. Applebaum, a doctoral candidate at the University of Florida, wanted to see if there was evidence to support the idea that pet owners would have lower allostatic loads than non-pet owners.
“Pets are often thought to confer health benefits to their owners, and one of the mechanisms is stress relief. Allostatic load is an “objective” measure of the effects of chronic stress exposure on physiological systems, so our rationale was that pet owners should have lower allostatic load scores than non- owners.”
Applebaum went on to say, “There is also a robust body of literature on disparities in allostatic load by socioeconomic position (i.e., race, ethnicity, gender, income, education, etc.), so we were also curious if pet ownership may provide enough stress relief to buffer against the harmful effects of chronic stress exposure experienced by marginalized individuals.”
Findings have been published in SSM-Population Health.
Data from the Health and Retirement Study was examined that began in 1992 that surveyed adults aged 50+ in the US. The data of continuously enrolled participants was collected every 2 years, that included almost 20,000 people. Once enrolled, they were followed until they passed away.
The main focus of the study was centered on pet ownership, which included 10 % of the participants in 2012. It included all types of pets, birds, dogs, cats, fish, reptiles, small mammals and others. In 2006, they documented, measured and collected physical and biomarkers.
They measured allostatic load in 3 physical categories (systolic and diastolic blood pressure, and waist circumference).
The 5 biomarker measures used were (hemoglobin A1c, high-density lipoprotein, total cholesterol, cystatin C, and C -reactive protein).
The results of the study did show that those who reported having a pet, did in fact have lower allostatic loads than those who were not pet owners. After they factored in wealth and education it remained statistically significant. But became non-significant after factoring in race and ethnicity.
“This is not surprising given the very consistent findings across studies related to higher allostatic load scores among, in particular, Black Americans, who are, at the population level, subject to higher chronic stress than Americans of other races. We suspect that the magnitude of the effect of pet ownership on allostatic load is insufficient to counteract experiences of high chronic stress experienced by some marginalized groups.”
The researchers noted that yes, pets do have a positive ability to shift some of the chronic stress held by most Americans. But effects can be diminished depending on the social circumstances of the individual. The point was made that in some groups, like those who are elderly (80+ yrs.), owning a pet could even be more of a burden.
“ We found that, among those aged 80+, pet owners had HIGHER allostatic load scores than non-owners,” Applebaum explained. “This suggests that pet ownership could actually be stress-provoking for this older age group, but it’s important to remember that the nature of the data and measures didn’t allow us to assess causality, so this is just an association and could be an effect of an observed factor. For example, it’s possible that pet owners tend to have characteristics, lifestyles, and or/environments that we were unable to include in the study that are conductive to lower allostatic load than non-owners.”
There are many unobservable factors at play that could impact findings and more in-depth studies need to be done to assess causality. There is a 2012 study, which newer findings align with that suggest a stronger relationship to your dog could be related to an increase of anxiety and depression. I would imagine this has to do with the burden pet care can have on a person whose faculties are diminishing.
Either way, there will always be a little good and bad in everything in life. But I remain steadfast in my beliefs that every pet owner wouldn’t trade in their “best friend” for anything in the world. When it comes to owning a pet, the good will always outweigh the bad.
-A Balanced Brain is a Better Brain for a Happer Life-