Remember the last time your energetic doggie stared at you, just begging for some Frisbee action? It was about 5 minutes ago right! Bet you couldn’t ignore those pleading eyes, so instead of vegging on the couch, you got up and played a tug-o-war with your best bud. No doubt, you both felt better for it.
In a study entitled, Pet ownership and cardiovascular risk reduction: supporting evidence, conflicting data and underlying mechanisms, there is a great deal of evidence that supports the theory that pet owners are less sedentary, have lower blood pressure, lower cholesterol, and are less stressed mentally than non-pet owners1. Ok, we really didn’t need a study to tell us this did we?!
So, not only did you up the ante on your physical and mental well-being in general- when you got off the couch to play with your dog- the energy and exercise helps the panic attack energy get out in a better way. Exercise in on a whole clearly helps move those chemical imbalances that create panic attacks- so every time you run around with your dog you are helping yourself relieve some of the tension and giving your dog tons o fun. Every interaction with our dogs helps us lead healthier and happier lives. When we live “ in the present”, the world just seems a whole lot nicer.
