Having a Dog Improves Your Emotional and Physical Health

Written and verified by the lawyer Francisco María García

Last update: 27 December, 2022

Adopting a dog only brings benefits to owners. Some people claim that it’s more than just an altruistic act and deciding to take care of a dog is an act of selfishness due to all the great advantages that come along with it. This includes your health. The title of “Man’s Best Friend” is well-deserved. The simple fact of having a dog as a companion is already a plus. 

Benefits in all areas, including health

Dogs bring several different advantages to your life. You can go over some of them below:

Decrease in stress and blood pressure

When you interact with your pet through cuddling, playing, or taking them out for a walk, it reduces your stress levels and blood pressure and increases also increases overall well-being.

The fight against loneliness

When you need to talk to someone, no living being on earth will listen with more attention and patience than a dog.

Dogs reduce feelings of loneliness and help cure depression. Having a dog’s company alleviates the feeling of loneliness in solitary people. The responsibility of taking care of a pet is another reason for depressive people to get up and keep going.

Personal self-esteem

Some studies carried out by the University of Miami and Saint Louis University concluded that people with dogs have progressively increased levels of self-confidence and security. 

More physical activity

Many people have the goal of getting into a daily exercise routine. However, that often doesn’t happen for several reasons (physical tiredness, not enough time, lack of voluntary effort).

As soon as you adopt a dog, going out for morning and nighttime walks becomes a must. As living beings, dogs have physiological needs to fulfill. Likewise, just like their owners, they need daily physical activity to be both physically and mentally healthy.

Social life improvements

People with dogs tend to be very popular among their friends and neighbors. They project security, responsibility, well-being, and health. There are several movies and TV shows that show how clichéd romantic relationships start with a conversation in a park.

Cliché or not, it’s true that walking the dog opens a wide variety of possibilities to begin new relationships with people that share similar interests.

Senior Citizens

For the oldest members of the family, taking care of a pet can become a very useful responsibility; it’s something to do every day. 

They help with a fast recovery 

Several studies have shown that people who have had heart attacks or surgery recover quicker if they have a dog. 

Brings the family together

The responsibility of having a four-legged member will always be a good reason for the “human pack members” to interact more often with each other. In addition, dogs bring peace into the household. Even if the dog’s mischief can be annoying, everyone usually laughs at the animal’s craziness over time.

Dogs and children

The benefits that dogs bring to families with small children (even babies) are also positive. 

Let’s take it even further and look at the advantages they offer to children. Living with a canine “sibling” is good for:

• Strengthening the immune system. The times when pediatricians frowned at the presence of pets in houses with small children are definitely long gone.
• A study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association determined that infants who grow up with pets suffer up to 50% less allergies. The reason is simple. The bacteria that comes along animals helps strengthen the entire immune system.
• They offer additional education. As they care for the dogs, children develop a sense of responsibility, friendship, love, and loyalty. At the same time, dogs are good tools in specific educational tasks. For example, getting over the fear of public speaking or improving reading out loud.