Pets can help people make friends, find social assistance

Pets can provide their owners with more camaraderie. A new study shows that it can also help to create a human being human friendships and social support, which are good for long term health.This is old news for dog walkers, most of the neighbors, other dog walkers, or strangers on their travels meet regularly.

"Not many people I met when I arrived in my new neighborhood," says Dr. Elizabeth Frates, assistant professor of physical medicine and rehabilitation at Harvard Medical School. "But that changed when we Reesee our goldendoodle. She opened the door to a new universe of people".
A new study, published online in the journal PLoS One, shows that other types of pets, including cats, rabbits and snakes can also be catalysts to make friends and find help social.

Survey results

To explore how animals help people form social bonds, researchers from the University of Western Australia, Queensland University of Technology School and Harvard University School TH Chan of Public Health surveyed nearly 2,700 men and women in four cities: Perth, Australia; San Diego, California; Portland, Oregon; and Nashville, Tennessee.

Owning a pet is the third most common form of respondents said people gathered in their neighborhoods. (No. 1 was to be neighbors, he was 2 using the streets and local parks ..) Pet owners were 60% more likely that pet owners do not know the people in their districts who not known before.

Dog owners, specifically, those who walked their dogs, were also much more likely to be informed of friendship to someone they met through a related animal or obtain social support in the same connection.

"Pet Ownership seems to be important to facilitate social interaction and friendship formation factor in neighborhoods," writes Dr. Linda Wood, associate professor at the University of Western Australia, and colleagues in the journal PLoS One . "for pet owners, this also results in new sources of social support, both practical and emotional support."

Dr. Frates, medical editor of Get Healthy, get a dog, a special report of the health of the Harvard Medical School, has seen this first hand. The first time I adopted her dog, she started going to a local dog park in the morning to meet with about 15 other women and their dogs. Although dogs frolicked, women talking. Sometimes relationships are not beyond knowing that someone is "the mother of captain." Sometimes they develop into real friendships. 

Animals and health 

Get healthy, explored the many benefits for the direct physical and mental health of owning a dog. These include an increase in physical activity, which can help you lose or maintain weight; low blood pressure; and stress reduction. A study published last month in the journal Science has shown that when the owner of a dog watched your pet or eyes, levels of oxytocin, the "love hormone" increased both owner and animals. This helped further cement the link between the two.

Pets can also indirectly improve health by promoting social relations, which are good for long term health. An analysis of 148 studies on the topic have found that people who have strong social networks are 50% more likely to live longer than those who have limited social networks. In the world-go is independent today, many people have difficulty making connections. The PLoS One study suggests that having a pet can be a way to meet and interact with others. 

Dogs can be good to break the ice, so it is easy for humans to start conversations. But other animals can do the same. These are some of the open-ended responses to the survey published in PLoS One paper:

"I did visit with one of them and said that we had a rabbit and a rabbit too. They became better known "(woman, Portland).

"Your children are interested in seeing the snake and never let children come in without parental consent. So before anyone can see the serpent or snake handling need to have met and had parents who gave approval with them "(female, Perth).

"Having our cats as common has made it easier for us to become friends" (women, Nashville).  

There are many ways to be socially connected. You can volunteer at a hospital or a school. Working for a public official than you think. Give time to a nonprofit organization that touches the sensitive you the fiber. Join a choir or sports team. Or, if you love animals, getting a pet, you can also do the trick.