Introduction
People often deliberate on complicated techniques of reducing stress such as practicing yoga, meditation or sports activities. These are great techniques, but the issue of having a pet as a best friend is unique and one of the recently discovered best practices of relieving work-related strains or stress. Human friends are good and unique social beings compared to pets, since they provide a variety of social-economic benefits including stress reliefs. This paper will however form an analysis of the social benefits of owning or caring for a pet particularly benefits that relate of stress reliefs.
- Dogs and cats are furry and fun to play with. Does interaction with these animals provide stress-relieving benefits?
- The paper will analyze some of the health benefits that a person can get through interaction. It will also check on benefits of providing care for pets such as dogs or cats among others.
According to Heath and Schofield (429), research indicates that persons who are able to cater for pets get some extra unique benefits linkable to excellent social supports. Arguably, the social interaction between humans and animals is more beneficial in terms of health gains and stress relief, than just mare friendship or pattern of living.
Control of mood
Living with a pet provides a chance to adjust the frame of mind, since pets have some loving touch and caring looks, which make owner to adjust from any bad moods automatically (Lundy and Janes724). Various scientific explorations support a range of benefits that relate to keeping a pet, especially for someone with a chronic illness. The animals’ mood-enhancing techniques are unique discoveries of solving stress or moodiness.
Exercising
Exercising is one of the main ways to control work-related pressure or stress. The process of finding and sticking to a daily exercise routine is not easy, since it requires good discipline. Pets are a good means of encouraging an exercise or a routine. Pets also follow a certain routine such as engaging in a morning or else evening stroll, walk or run. Such routines have to be accompanied by the pet owners, who provide the companionship.
Analysis of the daily walk routines indicates that the pet owners will engage a constant procedure or working-out, without notice of any form of fatigue. This routine is more applicable for owners who live in urban settings (Robino, 32). Exercise is generally a good, health and important means of managing stress. Owning a pet therefore means engagement in such a practice, thus increasing the daily health benefits. Pets will therefore encourage owner to engaging daily working-out schedules.
Social support
Taking a pet for a walk around the park provides people the opportunity approach and talk to the owner. It creates an opportunity for others to comment, thus making the owner to be more socially approachable. The pets also present a starting point for a social talk therefore providing opportunity to increase the number of new friends.
The owner has increased chances of expanding his/her social network through such daily meeting with new friends, particularly during the walks. According to Evenson and Simon (1), social friends and acquaintances that one is able to meet may turn out to be very resourceful in providing great stress management benefits.
Loneliness
One of the main sources of stress is loneliness since a person suffers from redundant form of thinking, that mainly focus on personal weaknesses. Pets therefore provide a unique companionship and love, whereby one is able to enjoy by sharing the solitude. The excellent, special and reserved snuggles of the pet often accompany the loneliness. “Pets would therefore be the best antidotes for any form of stress that relating to loneliness” (Brock and Grady, 57).
This is evident with people in special homes or care centres. They suffer less lonely times when there have pets to care for, than even when they spend time with human beings. The stress reduction mechanism in this case has direct relation to pet ownership. The animals provide ways of reducing the strenuous feelings of isolation and low social sustenance from people.
Considering the home-care example, the aged people may suffer from isolation since they receive very short visits. Even the long-shift visits are incomparable to the pet’s un-interactive but full-time companionship visits.
Stress Reduction by Humans Compared to Pets
Talking to a good friend and a keen listener is very critical. We often share our life experiences and strenuous problems. Researches indicate that times spend sharing the stressful or strenuous feelings with a pet are much better than meditation (Brock and Grady, 57).
Sharing is therefore less stressful when the pet provides the support compared to getting support from friend or family members (Brock and Grady, 57). The presence of a family member or spouse tends to compromise the sharing session due to feeling that one may judge the expressed feelings. Pets on the other hand have no ability to judge, and therefore provide the loving support regardless of the situation or feeling.
Therapeutic care
Pets have a special attraction to their caregivers. Dog has affection and care for the owner thus the reason they are man’s best friend. It shows this affection wholly during play and thus is able to assist one to achieve and maintain happiness in numerous interesting field activities. There is a very extensive link between pets and their ability to relieve stress. Pets also assist in gaining other health-related benefits that are essential in relieving stress.
Historically, pets provided good therapeutic care for the owner, through address of various beneficial jobs. The pet’s playfulness and joy during performance of duties is amazing and encouraging particularly for a broken character. Dogs therefore undergo various therapies and training programs in the aim of ensuring that they are in a position to provide assistance in time of need.
A good use of the rehabilitation program is provision of assistance and other forms of beneficial care, such as comforting the elderly in health or day-care settings. The pet therapists assist in controlling grievances such as losses and other traumatizing situations. Distinctive pets such as horses can assist in physical activities for instance movement.
They also assist those who have physical strains or challenges. Research is currently trying to find the truthfulness of implication that dog pets can assist children learn to improve their reading skills (Brock and Grady, 58). The therapeutic pet therefore seem an excellent means of assisting human beings overcome complicated issues that can cause stress, and generally they assist one to achieve their wellbeing.
Fitting In
Pet are domesticated animals that fit in to all types of families (super-rich, poor or middle class). The need to own a pet depends on personal choices, since some people have the inevitable eagerness to own one due to their love for specific spices. Most pet owners feel relaxed and happy to own a pet of their choice.
Owning a pet therefore cause a close relationship with this pet of choice. Pets offer people a comforting, happy and friendship feeling, which is rare to find from other sources. Old people in particular have fear that comes in with age and they often feel insecure. Young people who should be giving them attention, affection and security seem not to be concern of these needs. They fail to pay attention to the elderly when they are actually in dire need for the attention or consideration.
Pets such as cats or dogs on the other hand provide this critical care by being by the sides of these aged people, who can then touch and feel their warmth. The pets always reciprocate the pampering by rubbing their bodies against people or by trying to feel them back.
Pets provide the elderly some opportunity to experience how good it feels to pamper someone even when the caretakers provide very little time or attention. They also share some activities with the pets such as walking around. These healthy activities ensure people remain in shape as well as ease them deep and stressful thoughts.
The pet acts as a stress eliminator in many unique ways such as taking cover of many activities that requires sharing. Indoor pets are often affectionate and friendly and thus provide comfort by ensuring the caregiver is not lonely or bored. Cats are predominantly playful and appear to tease someone who is in a meditational state.
They therefore know how to bring back the attention of someone who seems to be worrying. Their playfulness eases stress when the caregiver or the elderly person participates in their initiated activities, such as running or playing around the house.
Relieving Emotional Stress
Most pets are very interactive; cats particularly appear to be good listeners. This means that one can share with them some of their deeper emotions, particularly in view of the fact that they cannot share or broadcast the information, they provide an opportunity to share secretive information that would otherwise be hard to disclose to fellow human beings.
They also form a reliable outlet for the emotions and this make the person sharing information to relax, even when there is a huge probability that the pet will take no action to address the issue. Sharing enables one to feel relieved, even when solutions are not viable. Today various pets such as dogs or cats are trained to perform certain tasks such as guiding the blind. The visually impaired would therefore not need to worry about finding their way. Pets also learn various tricks or ways of entertaining people.
Different pets provide dissimilar optimistic feelings for instance, birds and fish attract attention due to their movements and beauty. Watching them for a while makes one feel peaceful and relaxed. There is a great peace of mind developed when one is keenly admiring different fishes swim in a fishpond or an aquarium.
A relaxed mind means stress-free time, therefore these pets are able to build back a stable and focused mind for better concentration over other development projects. Animals are a great source of rumour, which is known as a main source of stress reliever (Evenson and Simon, 1). The playful nature of pets provides the owner with a free show that causes great fun. Their acts are animated and natural; therefore, they present a funny, yet a safe show.
Psychological gains
The overall mood of a person is greatly improved when a furry friend such as a cat is involved. Unlike human beings, animals do not determine if a person is moody before engaging an activity. They innocently provide a warm welcome to people or try to incite an amusement form them, despite the bad temper.
It is impossible for any disgruntled person to remain in such as sombre mood after such a warm welcome. Pets therefore have unique ways of destructing people especially diverting their caregivers from stressful activities by introducing entertaining performances (Case, 104).
Their unconditional affection changes the bad or stressful moods to better feelings. They also offer companion to lonely people and ensure that the loneliness is disrupted. The pet is also non-judgemental and sharing feelings or day’s event with them eliminates chances of bad feelings or solitude that can lead to stress.
Economic Advantage
Pets provide the owners with a relief from stress recovery procedure that is better than hospital or psychiatric therapy. The relief is cheap and fully available through companionship. The elderly homes do not need entertainment programs to keep the spirit alive, introduction of a pet lightens up the place.
Other than therapy equipments, day care homes for the elderly and for those recovering from illnesses are fit with fish aquariums where they can watch the fish glide around and the amusement eases pressure related illnesses (Heath and Schofield, 429).
There are huge feelings of affections and fulfilment in caring for a pet such as by feeding, cuddling, grooming or giving general care. The nurturing instincts provide relaxed and stress-free feeling.
Having a pet makes the owner or caregiver to act naturally from instincts as opposed to following some defined lifestyle or arranged style of soothing stress. Many doctors have various ways of helping people relieve stress including use of strong medication, but people should know that natural ways like keeping a pet assists in curing such common conditions.
Conclusion
Although pets come with extra caring needs, the weight between benefits of owning a pet outweighs the shortcomings. Their support in times of stress is more essential and critical especially during tough times, when the furry touch provides the required lovely feeling. The unconditional love is hard to find among humans beings, but the pets love their owners unreservedly and thus the reason cuddling or snuggling them provides a relief.
They also have a comic nature due to their animal character or ability to perform ridiculous acts, which keep life lively. Comic lifestyle relieves stress and makes one forget lifestyle troubles. Dogs require walks that increase a person’s level of exercising. Such physical activities have been proven as main stress relievers. When one has a dog pet, the aggressive nature makes them feel safe.
Various pet have unique ways of alerting the owner over possible attacks or dangers such as fire or smoke, and the maintenance of such peace reduces chances of ailing as well as increasing stress-related worries. It is important to fuss over one’s pet because scientist have proven this as a major way of relieving stress that relates to blood pressure, cardiovascular illness or stress-related conditions.
Works Cited
Brock, Barbara. and Grady Marilyn. “Avoiding burnout: a principal’s guide to keeping the fire alive”. California, CA: Corwin Press, 2002. Print.
The book mainly covers the concept of stress for instance issues concern with tolerance of stress (including use of pets), common sources of this stress, normal and burn-out syndromes and ways of avoiding depression or stress-related problems.
Case, Linda. “The cat: its behaviour, nutrition, & health”. Iowa, IA: Wiley-Blackwell, 2003. Print.
The author mainly concentrates on cat’s reactions and relations with their caregivers. The book also portrays ways of understanding the cat’s behaviours especially companionship and how the relationship assists in managing human stress.
Evenson, Ranae. and Simon Robin. “Clarifying the Relationship Between Parenthood and Depression”. Journal of Health and Social Behaviour. 2005. 1-12. Print.
The journal provides an overview of daily family routines that may assist in management of health issues and stress. The authors also emphasis the issue of stress management and it benefits to pet owners.
Heath, Hazel. and Schofield Irene. “Healthy ageing: nursing older people”. Trento, Italy: Harcourt Publishers Limited, 1999. Print.
The book touches on various perspectives of aging and lifestyles of older people. The framework has a clear theoretical and biographical approach of addressing various challenges that elderly people face. It also presents ways of understanding, integrating and overcoming the challenges, including the use of pets.
Lundy, Karen S. and Janes Sharyn. “Community health nursing: caring for the public’s health”. Boston, MA: Jones and Bartlett Publishers, 2009. Print.
This book is a critical analysis of needs for health of people, and how the community or surroundings cater for these needs. It particularly analyzes how the community or social setting shapes people’s lifestyles.
Rubino, Leonard. “Success & Happiness One Day at a Time; an instructional manual for your life”. Florida, FL: Phoenix Publications Inc, 2006. Print.
This book emphasizes on the issue of relieving stress or moodiness through use of pets. It also addresses various ethical concerns on the religious setting mainly focusing on love, happiness, attraction, faith, stress, mood, ambition, mind, success an immorality.
Siegel, Jeremy. et al. “AIDS diagnosis and depression in the Multicenter AIDS Cohort Study: the ameliorating impact of pet ownership”, AIDS Care. April 1999. Print.
The article touches on pet ownership among people suffering from HIV/AIDS and particularly analysis of their lifestyles. It compares the amount of stress or depression different victims face depending on whether they own a pet or not.