Last week it was reported that a very sick man, James Wathen, had experienced a "complete turnaround" in his health after staff let his dog Bubba sit with him. It may seem remarkable, but animals have been proven to help human health and used in therapy for years.
)
Dogs can help with mental health problems like depression and
anxiety
It's long been known in some states
in the US that allowing patients to have their pets brought in to see them can
significantly help with their recovery.
It makes people feel
comforted, and it lowers blood pressure and cortisol, a stress-related hormone.
This, in turn, can help people to recover faster.
2)
Dogs can help with learning
Research carried out in 2008 found
that reading aloud to dogs helped boost confidence in young children.
In 2009, another study backed this up, finding that students who took part in a
Sit Stay Read programme in Chicago increased
reading fluency by up to 20%.
3)
Dogs can help lonely people keep their spirits up
Research carried out in 2008
found that when elderly people in long-term care homes were given
animal-assisted therapy (AAT) with a dog, they were less lonely
than those that did not have that companionship.
4)
Dogs make you exercise
This one is a bit of a no-brainer,
but having a dog comes with responsibility and the most obvious of those is to
cater for their physical needs by taking them for a walk. Scientific studies
have proved that if you have a
dog, you're more likely to be more active.
No comments:
Post a Comment