The Health Benefits Of Owning A Pet

Many people have high blood pressure for years without knowing it. Uncontrolled high blood pressure can lead to stroke, heart attack, congestive heart failure or kidney failure. The only way to tell if you have high blood pressure is to have your blood pressure checked. According to recent estimates, one in four U.S. adults has high blood pressure, but because there are no symptoms, nearly one-third of these people don’t even know they have it. This is why high blood pressure is often called the “silent killer.”

According to the American Heart Association; owning a pet can decrease your

• Blood pressure,
• Cholesterol levels
• Triglyceride levels
• Feelings of loneliness.

Pets can also increase your opportunities to

• Socialize
• Exercise
• Enjoy the outdoors

If you have high blood pressure you should think about having a pet.  In a recent study by the State University of New York; it was found that stockbrokers that have hypertension also know as high blood pressure, could adopt a cat or a dog to help lower their blood pressure.  Doctors found that stress-induced blood pressure continued to rise in the stockbrokers that had no pets, even when they were treated with medication to help lower their blood pressure.  The stockbrokers with pets also had a rise in their blood pressure, but not near as much as the stockbrokers without pets.  Based on this study, researchers concluded that drugs do help lower blood pressure but having a pet is better at helping to control stress-related increases in blood pressure.  After the study some of the stockbrokers went out and bought a pet.  No one is exactly sure as to why this is true.  The feeling is that having someone on your side that doesn’t judge you and that you can count on is a great benefit to your health.