Healthline: Why Petting a Dog is Good for Your Brain

“Putting these study results to work is of interest across the medical community. Dr. Joey R. Gee, a neurologist with Providence Mission Hospital in Orange County, California, told Healthline that dog-assisted therapies are “valuable for many chronic disorders and may be employed in settings where ‘calming’ is needed, such as with children and in long-term care facilities.”

Merrill agreed. “Pets such as dogs can and should be considered as an important therapeutic option for patients of all ages going through any number of physical or mental health issues,” he said.

Experts noted that one interesting aspect of the study was the increased effect of multiple sessions with a dog. “Exposure and experience foster familiarity. Psychology studies have consistently demonstrated how the mere exposure effect influences a familiarity preference: we prefer things we are familiar with versus those which are novel,” said Summers. “This certainty and comfort are undoubtedly bidirectional such that not only do we respond more positively, the dog also tends to respond more positively to humans they are bonded to securely,” said Merrill.”

Some Insights From This Article

• Dogs and pets in general. They're not just there to wag their tails, eat kibble, jump and run around. Research shows that they play a valuable role in supporting our mental and emotional health. Given our long evolutionary history with dogs, both their species and ours have evolved to form social compatibility and circuits in our brain that support animal companionship.

• This means that having a dog/pet can activate beneficial pathways such as social bonding, happiness, and “cuteness”. Believe it or not our perception of cuteness also releases many positive neurotransmitters and formulate positive thoughts.

• Our relationship with our dog/pet is two-fold. As much as we gain benefit from our dog, they also do the same from us. The more we treat our dogs with care and love the more they’ll reciprocate that back to us! Make sure to give your best friend a treat :)

Do you have a pet? What’s a particularly cute attribute about your pet?

Full article is here!

#Dogs #Pets #Emotions