Does owning a pet make your brain "smarter"? Research reveals changes in owners: "Language memory" ability has actually increased
Many people find spiritual comfort through keeping pets, and regular petting of “furry children” is also regarded as a way to heal the body and mind. In fact, it has been scientifically proven that keeping pets does have positive benefits for the human brain! Research in the “Journal of Aging and Health” shows that raising animals can reduce the risk of dementia in the elderly and even show better cognitive abilities.
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The study was initiated by the University of Michigan in the United States. The research team has analyzed 20,000 subjects over the age of 50 every two years since 2010, mostly intercepting data related to their medical care status and retirement life. In the survey, subjects will be asked about pet ownership, including whether they currently own a pet and how long they have owned it.
This study also established a “cognitive assessment score” scale through various objective tests to classify subjects into three categories: those with normal cognition, those with cognitive impairment, and those with dementia. Preliminary results show that 47% of the subjects reported owning pets during 2012; 19% had owned pets for about 1-5 years, and 28% had owned pets for more than 5 years.
The results of the study found that among people over the age of 65, those who have kept pets for more than five years show better cognitive abilities than those who have kept pets for less than five years, or who have not kept pets at all. Study author Jennifer W. Applebaum said that long-term pet ownership may have a protective effect against “cognitive decline,” but further research is needed to confirm this finding.
Are pets good for the body, mind and soul? Research indicates: owners’ “verbal memory” ability increased
Applebaum pointed out that the association between pet ownership and cognitive ability was strongest in “verbal memory,” and continued pet ownership was associated with higher word memory scores. However, no such difference in cognitive function was found for subjects under 65 years old. The study also found that those who have kept pets for more than five years are more physically active, have generally lower BMIs, and have significantly lower incidence rates of chronic diseases such as diabetes and hypertension.
Applebaum believes that the sample size of this study is sufficient, so it can prove that there is indeed a correlation between raising animals and improved cognitive function. “Under strict statistical control, it was found that the benefits of pet ownership on the brain are not limited to race, socioeconomic status and gender. Therefore, in the future, it may be possible to achieve interventions to improve brain health through pet care.”
Spending time with furry children reduces loneliness, study says: You can also get “4 kinds of benefits”
Not only does it promote brain health, the most well-known advantage of keeping pets is that it reduces people’s “loneliness” and increases happiness through companionship with pets. Research published in “PLOS ONE” pointed out that during the COVID-19 pandemic, people generally faced a lack of interpersonal communication, which amounted to a state of “semi-isolation”; and the study claimed that people who kept pet dogs during the epidemic had significantly lower depression symptom scores.
The research team collected 768 dog owners and 767 control groups who were willing to own dogs, and used 2 pet scales and 4 mental health scales to evaluate the mental health of the members of the two groups during the virus pandemic. The research team pointed out that those with lower scores on the social support scale had nearly three times higher scores on the depression scale.
The research report believes that people’s mental health is affected to a certain extent regardless of whether they own dogs, but respondents who own dogs show that they feel more social support. Respondents who owned dogs also had significantly lower depressive symptom scores than the control group. The research team claims that owning a dog may provide people with a stronger sense of social support and help reduce the negative psychological impact of the COVID-19 epidemic.
Will the lifting of the lockdown have negative psychological effects on furry children? Expert: Owners should actively solve the problem of “separation anxiety” in pets
However, as the epidemic is lifted and people begin to go out and socialize with friends, research has pointed out that this may have a negative impact on the mental state of pets, and they may be more likely to show “separation anxiety” than before. American veterinary expert Wailani Sung called on owners to pay more attention to their pets’ mental health at this time. Possible measures are to contact a professional trainer or take their pets directly to an animal hospital to relieve their pets’ anxiety through medication.
In addition, Sung suggests that pet owners can prepare high-quality pet accessories, such as dog toys, catnip or teeth cleaning bones, to distract their attention. You can also try to walk home for 15 minutes without your pet, and watch your pet’s reaction through the surveillance camera. If they respond well to the owner’s absence, the absence time can be increased to 30 minutes on the second day to allow the pet to gradually get used to living alone at home.
Source:
Identification of separation-related problems in domestic cats: A questionnaire survey
The Impact of Sustained Ownership of a Pet on Cognitive Health: A Population-Based Study
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