People with dogs have an edge

A dog's effect on its owner's health has been scientifically studied on several occasions. In the most recent study (2021), Japanese researchers followed 11,233 elderly people for 3.5 years (1). At the start of the study, participants filled out a comprehensive questionnaire and the researchers figured out their health status. They repeated this after an average of 3.5 years. Then they compared the data, taking into account a variety of confounding factors.

They came to two remarkable conclusions. People with dogs live longer on average and they stay healthier longer. Especially those who regularly walk their dogs benefit. Regular exercise not only reduces your risk of breast cancer, but also promotes recovery if you've had breast cancer. And that's not the only benefit. In 2013, American heart specialists released a scientific report on the effect of a dog on health. Their conclusion was that people with dogs are more likely to have cardiovascular disease. They also tend to be slimmer.

Nearly 3,000 additional steps

Did you know that dog owners take more steps per day? That's what British scientists found who had 85 seniors, 43 with a dog and 42 without, keep a diary for 3 weeks and gave a wristwatch with a pedometer as a gift for a study (2). The average age of the participants was 70, two-thirds were women, and on average they tended to be somewhat overweight. The dog owners took an average of 2,762 more steps daily than those without dogs. As a result, the majority (87%) of them met the recommended 150 minutes of physical activity per week, while less than half (47%) of those without dogs met this recommendation. The explanation is simple. A dog needs a daily walk and therefore people with dogs get out of their seats more easily.

(1)Taniguchi, Y., Seino, S., Headey, B. et al. (2022). Evidence that dog ownership protects against the onset of disability in an older community-dwelling Japanese population.PLoS one, 17(2), e0263791.

(2) Dall PM, Ellis SLH, Ellis BM, et al. The influence of dog ownership on objective measures of free-living physical activity and sedentary behaviour in community-dwelling older adults: a longitudinal case-controlled study. BMC Public Health. Published online June 9 2017