Page 32 - What Doctors Don't Tell You - AU-NZ (February-March 2020)

EVERY PICTURE...
EV ER Y P

Walking the dog

Owningapetisgoodforyou—but you’re even better off health-wise if it happens to be a dog

wning a pet—and especially a
dog—is good for your blood Taking the lead
Opressure, makes you less likely In a study that compared the health profiles of dog BODY MASS INDEX
to be obese, and reduces your chances owners against people who owned other sorts of pets (kg/m2)
of developing diabetes. Oh yes, and or none at all, man’s best friend appeared to give their
you’ll earn more money, too. owners an advantage in many health metrics.
And while we don’t understand that
Dog owners Pet owners No pet
last one either, it’s certainly true that
(non-dog)
pet owners are healthier and less likely DOG
Number of OWNERS
to suffer heart disease, a new study has participants 429 440 1,023 25
concluded.
Dog owners were the healthiest of Average age 47 44 50
them all. The obvious reason for all PET OWNERS
(NON-DOG)
these health benefits—other than * MET (metabolic equivalent for task) 25.1
earning more money—is that the Often referred to as the ‘volume’ of exercise, MET is a
dog needs walking, and a gentle stroll widely used measure of physical activity that represents
NO PET
around the park or the block several the difference between a person’s actual metabolic rate
times a day appears to be the difference. versus their theoretical metabolic rate at rest. 25.4
Researchers from the University
of Catania in Italy looked at rates of
heart disease among 1,769 people, 42
MET*
percent of whom owned a pet, and,
among these, they also compared the
health of dog owners to those who had (MET-min/week)
a different pet. 1
Among dog owners, 29 percent were NO PET
obese, compared to 32 percent of the 2,805
non-pet owners and 37 percent of the
PET OWNERS
pet owners who didn’t have a dog. Dog (NON-DOG)
owners weighed an average of about 3,217
168 lbs (76 kg) while those who didn’t
have a dog weighed an average of 170
lb (77 kg). DOG PET OWNERS
OWNERS (NON-DOG)
In a score for general health, with 4,833 26.3
14 being the top score, dog owners
averaged 10 and non-dog owners had a DOG
OWNERS
score of nine.
And dog ownership isn’t just good 28.4
for the heart. Lead researcher Dr
Francisco Lopez-Jimenez says that
NO PET
other studies have shown it’s also 32.9
good for mental health and feeling
less isolated socially—which both
also happen to be risk factors for heart HYPERTENSION
attacks. HISTORY

(%)

REFERENCES
1 Mayo Clin Proc Innov Qual
Outcomes, 2019; 3: 268–75

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