Advantages for your health in having a dog
A happy spirit in the house. This is how dozens of families all over the planet describe their dogs. And the truth is that these pets more than fulfil the famous cliché of being “man’s best friend”.
And you only have to take a look at societies today to see that dogs are more and more present in the country’s homes. Why? Because as well as making a social commitment and helping abandoned animals, there are many advantages for your health that come from having a dog.
Yes, as you hear: keeping a dog is not just an act of love to improve the animal’s life. Our dogs – whether large or small, puppies or older animals– are often the best therapy you can have at home, both at physical level and for mental benefits.
Just the presence of a “four-footed friend” at home means that positive effects follow immediately. But, what are they? We go through them one by one and tell you all the good things that come from keeping a dog, or more than one, in the family.
Physical benefits of keeping a dog
Clearly, the most obvious advantages of having a dog are physical. Taking care of a pet requires attention and involves obligations, meaning that practically anyone has to be more active for various reasons.
Going for walks
Although the house where the dog lives may have a garden and he can be outside nearly all day long, enjoying the open air, the truth is that it is better for dogs to go out for walks several times a day.
It’s important that they follow trails, enjoy other smells, exert themselves to accompany people at their pace, etc. That’s why it is recommended that we take walks suited to our dog’s needs, since not all of them need the same amount of exercise, there are some that need to let off steam more, others have a tendency to grow fat.
In most cases, people don’t voluntarily walk so much every day of the week, so that taking your dog out to do his business and get some fresh air is also an “excuse” for activity.
The benefits of walking are many: you reduce your blood pressure, lower the cholesterol and triglyceride levels and even lose weight and you will feel stronger.
Activity at home
Dogs are dependent on their human families and this has a direct consequence: you have to be active even at home.
Use play routines, teach basic rules and tricks, do tasks of hygiene such as showering or cleaning the teeth, prepare healthy, good quality food, etc. All this means that you have a long (and very pleasant) list of tasks to be done nearly every day.
Dogs raise people’s tolerance to allergies
It has been shown that living with dogs from an early age helps to ensure that children suffer fewer episodes of allergic reactions.
The immune system is stronger as a result of the high levels of endotoxins present in the dog’s fur. These endotoxins, in spite of their name, are not dangerous and carry no risk, but they do achieve that aim of strengthening the organism against allergens throughout life.
Change your daily habits
Having a dog means changing your habits: a pet cannot be a toy that is put away in a cupboard when it becomes a nuisance. For this reason, bringing this addition into the family will make you change your daily routines. And you will find a lot of benefits as a result.
You will have to adjust your timetable so that your dog can have his meals and go out, more or less, at the same time every day. This means that you have to organise your sleeping hours, meals, etc.
And an organised and constant timetable has many positive consequences for the physical and emotional health of people. So that, almost without noticing, organising life for your dog will help you to organise your own.
Mental benefits in having a dog
Having a dog brings many psychological benefits. Perhaps this is rather more difficult to see at once, but you only have to think a little to realise all the good things that happen when these furry friends cross your threshold to stay with you permanently.
Dogs improve your self-esteem
The complete devotion of dogs to their families reinforces anyone’s self-esteem of. A dog does not judge or notice errors and to receive his unconditional love every day surely contributes to increasing a person’s amour propre.
The finest everyday companions
Above all, in the case of older people who have been left alone, a dog is a faithful companion and will help to ensure that they are not left on their own all day long. Having a dog means that you “have to” go out, socialise, take exercise, etc.
All this has very interesting effects on cases of extreme loneliness, where older people—or anyone else—can be subject to depression or some other emotional problem caused by not having anyone with whom to share their life.
Excellent for therapies
It has become clear that these animals have a role as one of the best tools in mental therapies of all kinds. From helping children with psychological problems or intellectual diversity such as autism to being the best possible company for elderly people suffering from dementia.
The warmth that these animals offer, both physical and emotional, is such that the benefits of being with them are noticeable almost at once. That’s why more and more families choose to go for the responsible adoption of a dog and make their pets into honorary members of the home.
As you see, the advantages for your health of having a dog are only comparable with the benefits that the dogs themselves experience from the love and care that they receive from their human family.