Her husband had just experienced another TIA, her mother was in hospice care. She had her plate pretty full.
However, she would tell you honestly, “Getting this puppy was the best thing.”
Appropriately, her husband named the puppy Happy.
My friend’s experience is not unusual, at least not according to the NBC News story, Puppy Love…It’s Better than You Think, and we have science to back it up:
In 1995, Erika Friedman at the University of Maryland Hospital conducted a study involving 392 people, which found that heart attack patients with dogs were eight times more likely to be alive a year later than people without dogs.
In 1999, the State University of New York at Buffalo conducted a study involving 24 stock brokers taking medication for high blood pressure. The researchers found that adding a dog or cat to the stock brokers’ lives helped stabilize and reduce their stress levels.
In 1999, Swedish researchers reported that children exposed to pets during the first year of life had fewer allergies and less asthma.
Recently, separate studies reported that walking a dog contributed to a person’s weight loss and that dog walking can be a catalyst for social interaction with other people, a benefit that can help improve our sense of well-being — or even help us meet a future spouse.
If you don’t come from pet-loving homes, offer to walk a neighbor’s dog, or just go to a dog park and hang out for a while. Their antics are bound to cheer up the worst mood.
This week, find ways to add good feelings to your life. Maybe not everyone can (should, or wants to) get a puppy, but we all can (should, and want to) enjoy greater well-being.
Tips from 5 April 2010 to 6 August 2012 are here: Archived Tips
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Rev. Debra Basham
Voice or text: (269) 921-2217 Email: debra@scs-matters.com https://scs-matters.com http://ImagineHealing.info http://SurgicalSupport.info Small Changes … Infinite Results™
“If we have no peace, it is because we have forgotten that we belong to each other.” ~ Mother Teresa |