Issue link: http://cp.revolio.com/i/244291
The team qualified its findings, noting that further, more rigorous research is needed. However, they found modest evidence that pet ownership improves risk factors like blood pressure, cholesterol level and stress response. In one study, dog owners who had heart attacks were up to four times more likely to be alive a year later than their pet-less counterparts. Some of the strongest evidence involves pets and blood pressure. When 48 hypertensive stockbrokers were treated with medication, almost all showed improvement. But in stressful situations, their blood pressures shot back up. Unless, that is, they owned a dog or cat. The benefits of pet ownership and medication were significantly greater than medication alone. As a group, dog owners also get more exercise. Researchers at the University of Missouri found that people were more likely to stick with a 12-week exercise program when they walked with a dog rather than a friend or spouse. (Participants reported that human companions often talked each other out of exercising, especially on hot summer days. But they felt the dogs were counting on them.) Animal hospital? In the halls of Swedish Medical Center in Englewood, four-footed therapists can often be seen amid the bustle of physicians, nurses and technicians. As part of the hospital's animal-assisted therapy program, dogs and their handlers move from room to room, visiting patients and families, often on doctor's orders. Dr. Lilly Klancar, an oncologist at Swedish Medical Center, says the animals provide much-needed levity. In fact, she's become accustomed to being upstaged. "I've been in the room 82