Lively Women

Stress Buster: Pet Therapy

by Heather on June 21st, 2006

Are you feeling stressed-out these days? If you’re a woman trying to balance your home, work, and community responsibilities, you may feel like running out the back door screaming when the stress mounts too high.

In her book, A Woman’s Guide to Good Health, Dr. Carrie Carter says:

If I had to pick one issue that, if improved, would probably make the greatest difference in most of our lives, it would be stress. This six-letter word is the stimulus that sets many other negative actions in motion — all of which interfere with our ability to thrive.

And thriving is what we’re all about here at Lively Women, right? One way to ease the stress and anxiety in your life is to interact with your pet. Do you have a pet? Something furry will do — or if you can’t have pets where you live, how about a fish? According to this U.S. News & World Report article, The Pet Prescription: See Spot run. Then see Spot lower your blood pressure and boost your immunity, being around animals may save your life:

Pet benefits may begin with changes in body chemistry. One study showed that a short pet visit increased levels of endorphins, the body’s natural painkillers, while levels of cortisol, a stress and arousal hormone, dropped.

Besides, my cats don’t talk back. And they never want to steal my secret stash of chocolate.

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