Having a pet at home provides numerous physical and mental health benefits. A pet has a greater impact on our mental health and emotional well-being than we realise, and here’s how. The impact of dogs on our mental health, as well as their utility as a kind of therapy, is one field of research that is being expanded.

Studies have portrayed that pet parents are less prone to be depressed than individuals who do not have pets, as our serotonin and dopamine levels rise when we play with dogs or cats. These are hormones that make us happy by calming and relaxing our nerve systems.

Moreover, bonding with a dog also lowers levels of cortisol, a stress hormone. It also increases the release of oxytocin, a hormone inside the body that typically relieves stress.

Pet owners have lower blood pressure in stressful circumstances than those who do not. Those with borderline hypertension who adopted dogs from a shelter had their blood pressure drop dramatically within five months, according to one study.

Additionally, when you have a pet to care for and feed, you feel more needed and wanted. The act of caring for others is beneficial to one’s mental wellbeing. Nurturing for another living creature provides us a meaning and purpose in life.

The American Psychological Association concluded that pet parents were happier in a variety of ways, including higher self-esteem, better physical fitness, less loneliness, greater awareness, greater extroversion, and feeling less terrified, based on empirical research.