For all those who love dogs, cats and other pets, you don’t have to be told that the bonds between humans and animals can be powerful. Children, teenagers, adults and seniors all find great enjoyment from their pets, and many look at them as a true member of the family.
Companionship, friendship, affection and protection from the outside world are many of the benefits we derive from pet ownership. Pets also relieve loneliness and bring us unconditional love.
While those benefits of pet ownership are known to many, research has shown that access to pets contributes to lowering blood pressure, heart rates slow down, breathing becomes more regular and muscle tension is more relaxed.
In combining the signs of reduces stress and the physical evidence that pets improve our health, scientists have discovered a great deal more about the connection between pets and our mental health. With May being Mental Health Awareness Month, what better time than now to find ways to enhance our own mental health.
There are a number of ways in which studies show that petting and spending time with pets reduces stress-related hormones, and those benefits may become apparent after a mere five minutes of interacting with a pet.
Interacting with pets raises our levels of serotonin and dopamine, hormones that calm and relax the nervous system. Those “happy hormones” are stimulated and released when we smile and laugh at our pets’ entertaining behavior. Spending time with pets also reduces the stress hormone known as cortisol, and it increases the release of oxytocin, another chemical that reduces stress naturally. Studies also show that the sensory act of stroking a pet lowers blood pressure, which brings comfort to hyperactive or aggressive children and increases the chances of those kids becoming happy and healthy teens.
Another benefit to us is pets make us feel needed, wanted and appreciated. Caretaking for our pets gives us a sense of purpose and meaning, and they increase our sense of self-esteem and well-being. Pet owners are often less lonely, more conscientious and less preoccupied, more extroverted and less fearful.
Pets are very helpful in assisting people recovering from severe mental health conditions and they help us build healthy habits and routines. Walking a dog or riding a horse gets us doing things outside so we experience the many mental health benefits of being outdoors.
May also marks the 50th anniversary of Eskenazi Health Midtown Community Mental Health, Indiana’s first community mental health system. The theme for Midtown’s 50th anniversary celebration is Making Mental Health a Priority for 50 Years.
Eskenazi Health Midtown Community Mental Health actually began with passage of the Community Mental Health Centers Act of 1963. This federal law allowed states to develop the structure of a community mental health system. To be eligible for federal funding, a community mental health center was required to provide five essential services: inpatient hospitalization, partial hospitalization, outpatient services, 24/7 emergency services and consultation/education-related services.
Midtown Community Mental Health Center was the first one established in Indiana, opening in 1969. It would take 15 years for the remaining 29 community mental health centers to open to serve residents throughout the state.
If you have concerns or questions about your health, the health of someone in your family or are in need of a primary care physician for yourself or someone else, please call 317-880-7666 or visit www.eskenazihealth.edu/doctors.
Dr. Nydia Nunez-Estrada
Family Medicine Physician at Eskenazi Health Center North Arlington