Pets As Stress Relief

This article explores the ways and methods of how can a pet contribute to human health and well-being and how pets can be considered as stress relief to humans. The second part of the report will present the obstacles of keeping pets and the third part will consist of two interviews done with a Lebanese psychologist and a Veterinary doctor explaining the advantages and challenges that pet owner also faces when having pets.

Pet-keeping nowadays is a well-accepted and encouraged phenomena in today’s society. Pets like humans, are living creatures that have feelings and can be one of the main sources for stress relief. These pets are considered to be companion animals that play an enormous role in in their owner’s lives. In addition to that, pets can provide support and entertainment to their owners which in turn have a higher probability in promoting their owner’s health. One of the main reasons that may affect one’s health is the stress and anxiety of our daily social life. Students, young adults and adults face different type of stress in their lives which in turn may affect their productivity and efficiently in their studies, work, reduce their energy and even affect their relationships with their loved ones. Stress is an insidious health risk that is commonly heard and known by society especially in our current era. Therefore, people are constantly searching for a methods and ways that can help them release their stress and enjoy their daily life. It has been proven in several studies that companion pets can provide excellent social support and improve the health benefits of their owners. Moreover, just as humans can develop close bonds of affection with other people, they can also develop strong emotional ties with their pets such as the behaviors they display – for example the greeting rituals exhibited by dogs upon their owner’s return home create the impression and the feeling of unconditional love, faithfulness and dependability. This social support provided by pets can clearly explain the health benefits experienced by their owners.

Several studies have proven that pet ownership can enhance and improve the health and emotions of their owners, pets are considered as stress relief to the human companions.

Pets can increase personal safety: companion pets as dogs and cats have proven to keep their owners safe in their life especially large size dogs that protect and defend their owners as soon as they sense danger getting closer.

Provide unconditional love: no matter what pet you have, it is a guarantee they will share enormous levels of joy and love. Pets have a way of calming our temper down in their own ways that no other human being can. they are typically perceived as nonjudgmental, noncritical, and to be there in times of trouble.

Learning Patience: “patience is the key element to success” – Bill Gates. Owning a younger pet can teach us valuable lessons. In other words, when training a pet for a certain lesson, they are simultaneously teaching their owners patience because it is as if they are teaching a young child.

Pets can feel empathy: a pet can directly detect if their owner is having a good or bad day; thus, they can directly cope with their owner’s feeling. 

Improve Mental health: it has been proven that pets can help improve the health of patients with mental health challenges like depression, anxiety, and other disorders.

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