Why Spending Time With Pets Enhances Emotional Health

Pets are fun, but did you know that spending time with them has benefits you aren’t aware of? Since we first domesticated animals, they’ve been giving us warmth and unconditional love for thousands of years. As a result, spending time with pets is an excellent boost for your emotional health. This goes double if you’re an introvert, lonely, or you simply don’t spend enough time with friends and family. Your little furry companions can reduce stress and improve your mood — read on to learn why and how!

Pets and Addiction Recovery

When professionals discuss addiction treatment, you won’t find pet ownership among their top 3 suggestions. However, the Addiction Science & Clinical Practice forum published a study on the influence of pets in the lives of people with substance use disorder. It reveals that people strengthened their social connections, gained a sense of belonging, purpose, agency, and established daily structure as well as environmental boundaries.

Spending time with pets provides companionship that can reduce stress and promote emotional stability. Facilities like Tranquility Recovery Center recognize the importance of emotional health in recovery, providing comprehensive support to help individuals heal and become the best versions of themselves.

The question isn’t whether pets can help people with addiction and everyone else with their emotional health — the better question is, how do our little buddies do it?

How Do Pets Improve My Emotional and Mental Health?

For years, researchers have poured over evidenceof the “pet effect” — the idea that pet owners are more emotionally and mentally stable than their pet-free counterparts. Sure, peer-reviewed studies of this effect aren’t numerous, but there are plenty of corroborated stories on the subject.

Yep, anecdotal evidence is abundant. People suffering from various mental (and physical) health conditions have reported that coping and recovering from them is easier with pets.

There’s obviously something to this. Evidently, the combo of constant companionship and unconditional love can be life-changing. As a result, we shouldn’t dismiss pet ownership's mental and emotional effects as trivial.

When we look at the issue from a historical perspective, the positive impact of pets becomes even more logical. After all, we’ve had domesticated pets for over 10,000 years. This is longer than we’ve had agriculture and non-nomadic civilizations.

This is especially clear when we examine our relationship with dogs — the aptly named “man’s best friend.” A long-term relationship allows dogs to communicate with us more easily than most other animals. They can infer a lot from our gestures, tone of voice, and even subtle changes in our body language.

So, now that we know pets are beneficial for us — let’s examine precisely how.

Effects of Pets on Depression

From an emotional perspective, few mental health issues are as difficult to manage as depression. However, pet ownership can have amazingly positive effects on this problem — improving our mental health and providing relaxation in the long run.

Have you ever owned a cat? They become inseparable from you once you bond with them while you’re at home. Because of this, many cat owners are fueled by their pets’ constant companionship. When depressed, the subtle camaraderie of their cats helps them get through day-to-day tasks they’d otherwise have trouble completing.

Most likely, this is because cats are a uniquely low-maintenance pet. And yet, they’ll be happy to follow you around the house and snuggle with you in bed. This provides the comfort and emotional fulfillment that people suffering from depression desperately need.

When you’re depressed, it’s easy to feel like no one is there for you and that nobody can help you get better. Maintaining relationships is tough, even with close friends and loved ones. You always feel like someone is judging you or expecting an effort that seems herculean in your state.

Conversely, pets offer all the love and comfort you need — with no strings attached. Loneliness becomes much harder to bear with a cat or a dog by your side. Suddenly, you feel less isolated, even when you don’t leave your home.

Pets Are a Constant Source of Ease

All pets can help you relax and feel more in tune with your emotions. This isn’t just true for cats and dogs — even a pet fish brings some benefits. In fact, one study determined that watching fish can reduce muscle tension and even lower your blood pressure.

Pet owners generally have better cardiovascular health thanks to lower blood pressure and heart rates. However, this isn’t just a consequence of your pets’ mere presence. For instance, active dog owners lead a less sedentary lifestyle by taking their pets for multiple daily walks. Even an hour and a half of walking per day can bring significant health improvement in today's busy world.

Some evidence also suggests that pet owners recovering from heart attacks have better health outcomes than regular patients.

Pets Can Improve Children’s Emotional Intelligence

If you’ve talked to a parent who’s also a pet owner, you’ve likely heard many stories about how the two love and care for each other. Children raised in pet-owning households are less susceptible to asthma and allergies.

However, pets can help children with more than their physical health.

First, pets can improve a child’s emotional resilience by providing the same unconditional love that they give adults. They’ll never get critiqued by a pet or receive orders from them — only love and affection. This helps children grow up with more self-respect and confidence.

Also, many children suffer from separation anxiety when their parents leave for work or other obligations. Pets can ease this transition by constantly being familiar with the house.

Crucially, pets help children grow up to be better people. Or, at least, people more capable of sustaining loving and caring relationships with friends and romantic partners. Kids learn about healthy emotional attachment early on with a dog or a cat.

When kids grow a bit older, they can help with various pet-related duties around the house. This helps them learn about responsibility and, even more importantly, empathy.

Of course, you should teach your children how to behave around pets first — and ensure your dog or cat is well-trained for proper behavior around the kids.

Before getting them a dog or a cat, consider starting with a hamster or a guinea pig first. These are excellent starter pets for small children.

Wrapping Up

There are plenty of reasons why spending time with pets is beneficial for your emotional and mental health. And that’s true for both adults and kids. They can improve your mood by providing a regular source of physical activity. Plus, they provide unconditional companionship and love as long as you fulfill their basic needs. If you’re thinking about whether

That being said, bear in mind that pet ownership is a major, multi-year commitment. Also, owning a pet won’t magically cure any emotional and mental issues — but it will help you on your healing journey and potentially speed it up. 

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/241645032_The_Impact_of_Pets_on_Human_Health_and_Psychological_Well-Being_Fact_Fiction_or_Hypothesis

https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC6747257/

https://www.pexels.com/photo/two-yellow-labrador-retriever-puppies-1108099/

https://ascpjournal.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s13722-023-00411-z