Cat Dumbbells (or How Pets Improve Your Health)

My dogs, Marley and Melvin

I just read an article on WebMD called "27 Ways Pets Can Improve Your Health." I have always loved dogs and was interested to learn more about the health benefits they can provide.

Therapists prescribe time with a pet to help combat depression. Fifteen to thirty minutes with a pet lowers cortisol (stress hormone) levels and increases serotonin (your brain's happy juice). I didn't realize that some therapists have also started using dogs in therapy sessions. 

Certified therapy dogs visit patients in hospitals and nursing homes to boost their mood. (I actually hope to get my dog Marley certified some day.) Dogs can also be trained to help people with epilepsy, diabetes, and Parkinson's disease.

Owning a dog or cat lowers your blood pressure and your risk for heart disease, and children who grow up with fuzzy pets are less likely to develop allergies and more likely to have strong immune systems.

And, this was my favorite part of the article, while discussing how pets can improve your level of physical fitness it said that "some people like to use their cat rather than dumbbells when doing weight training." Fantastic.

(To hear what my dog Marley has to say, check out TheMarleyBug on Twitter.)