Five ways you and your pet can get healthier and happier together

I drafted this piece with a bit of assistance from my animals. Whenever my concentration dipped or I began to flag, I clipped on my dogs’ leads and we headed out together for fresh air and a small outdoor break. I’m happy to acknowledge that my pets boost my health, productivity and happiness - and I like to think I return the favour by helping them stay well and content.

It’s well established that companion animals can support human health and wellbeing. Even so, any benefit ought to go both ways. Our pets are sentient and should be cared for with respect, rather than treated as instruments for improving human wellbeing at the expense of their own.

With many countries - including the US and the UK - experiencing an obesity crisis affecting both people and pets, how can owners avoid unintentionally harming their animals’ health while still turning to them for comfort and companionship?

Below are five practical approaches that can help you and your pet become healthier and happier side by side.

1. Rest and relaxation

Companion animals can play a role in easing stress and upset. Studies show that simply having a dog physically present can lower a person’s blood pressure and heart rate during a challenging task - with a stronger effect than having a friend or family member there. By contrast, when people completed stressful tasks alongside a friendly but unfamiliar animal, researchers found no such benefit.

In that sense, pets can provide reassurance, safety and emotional support - a kind of safe haven - for their owners. But comfort can run in the other direction too: pets may be soothed by their human’s presence and enjoy affection. At the same time, very intense human–animal interaction can contribute to attachment problems, leaving pets more susceptible to aggression, fear and separation anxiety.

Some animals also find excessive handling - or being stroked in ways they don’t like - distressing or frightening, which can trigger aggression or anxiety.

A number of owners choose to let their pets share the bed. Sleeping next to an animal can carry potential health drawbacks, such as disrupted sleep, risks of injury, disease transmission or allergies.

Even so, having your pet nearby at night may also encourage better-quality sleep and provide warmth, a sense of security and companionship. Many animals appear to prefer sleeping close to others, so the advantage may be mutual.

2. Relationship building

For both people and animals, building and maintaining a good relationship matters for health. A healthy human–pet bond recognises the owner’s responsibility for the pet’s welfare and wellbeing. On the other hand, troubled relationships with pets can result in trauma and aggression. Carers who live with less friendly or poorly behaved dogs may experience anxiety and depression.

Training should use techniques that support a constructive partnership between human and animal. This, in turn, can help both owner and pet develop a more positive outlook. Evidence indicates that positive reinforcement training - rather than punishment-led methods - offers the best results for animal welfare and for learning skills.

You can often see strong human–pet bonds in assistance and therapy animals. Therapy pets are associated with increased independence and improved self-reported wellbeing in their owners. In healthcare settings, stroking and spending time with therapy pets can help patients: animals can add a sense of normality, ease boredom and reduce depression.

3. Making (two and four legged) friends

Taking your pet out for a walk can deliver more than the benefits of physical exercise.

Pets can encourage social connections and strengthen relationships - helping to create a sense of community. For example, pet owners are more likely to meet and get to know people in their local area.

Why might that be? Research suggests pets have a notable effect on "social lubrication", making it easier to start conversations and form connections with other owners and animal lovers.

As a result, people with pets are generally less likely to feel lonely or socially isolated than those without animals.

4. Dietary decisions

Veterinary professionals agree that many pets are becoming heavier on average. This reflects what is happening among humans as well - with diet and exercise standing out as two major contributing factors.

In dogs - though not in cats - obesity rates are associated with the owner’s waistline, which points towards a shared lifestyle link. In other words, owners may inadvertently undermine their pets’ health through the same poor eating and activity habits that contribute to their own health problems.

Helping people make more informed dietary choices for their pets could also prompt healthier eating patterns for the humans themselves.

Pairing better diet with consistent exercise may bring both pets’ and people’s waistlines down to a healthy level.

5. Walking for wellness

Regular activity is connected to a wide range of health benefits for people and animals alike. For most dog owners, walking is a low-cost and fairly accessible way to support physical health and overall wellbeing - for both humans and their pets.

For instance, people who walk dogs routinely tend to have lower body mass and higher activity levels than those without dogs, or those who live with dogs but don’t walk them. In addition, walking at least three times weekly can relieve back pain and halve the likelihood of it returning.

Still, not everyone walks their dog regularly. Reasons can include limited suitable places to go, safety worries, or concerns about their own dog’s behaviour or that of other dogs. Making facilities accessible, safe and easy to use can increase participation. This can include providing "poo bins" to cut down on dog fouling, designing neighbourhoods that enable safe walking routes, and limiting access to potentially sensitive spaces such as children’s playgrounds.

In the end, life with a companion animal should be a healthy, happy relationship that benefits both parties. Keeping these five principles in mind should help owners and pets find reassurance and calm with one another, while maintaining a healthy weight and outlook.

Jacqueline Boyd, Senior Lecturer in Animal Science, Nottingham Trent University

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons licence. Read the original article.