Yes, your cat can help you to better health, just by sharing your home with you. Are you aware of this special benefit to owning a cat? If you don’t know, read on and discover the health benefits of having a cat.
You will find several excellent reasons for sharing your home with a kitty. Look at this list:
1) Heart Health
A cat helps protect your heart. Having a cat in your life can lower your chance of having a heart attack. It also reduces your chance of a stroke. The cat in the family can lower your chances of either of these conditions by 30%. That’s a good reason right there to appreciate your sweet kitty.
2) Blood Pressure
Having a cat will also lower blood pressure. If you have high blood pressure, this advantage brings up a great benefit for being a cat owner. We all know that high blood pressure can lead to serious health problems, and if petting a cat lowers that blood pressure, what’s not to love?
3) Allergies
With kitty nearby, you can reduce your risk of allergies. It would be most unfortunate if you are allergic to kitty himself, because then you must deal with this condition. However, if you have spent a lot of time around a cat since early childhood, you may reduce your risk of many allergies later in life.
According to the Journal of the American Medical Association, contact with cats by young children can have a protective effect on their respiratory health. If exposed early in life to cats, the child’s immune system is strengthened. Thus, the likelihood of the development of allergies or asthma later in life is lowered.
4) Bone and Muscle Injuries
The cat purr has its own healing power. The normal purr of a cat lies between 20 and 140 Hertz. This sound falls in the frequency range that is needed to heal broken bones and stressed muscles. Studies show that frequencies in the 18-35 HZ range can have a positive effect on the mobility of joints after surgery. Scientists believe that the sound of the cat purring can facilitate faster healing.
My cat, Carlos, must have known this. After I had my first knee replacement, when I came home, I had to stay in bed with an ice machine sending cold air to that joint. Carlos crawled under the covers and for three days and three nights he stayed close to that knee. I’m sure he purred a lot during that time.
He came out only when I got up for meals or bathroom. If he needed to eat or use the litter box, he stayed out of bed only as long as it took him to take care of his business.
After three days and nights, he must have felt he’d done all he could, and he came out from under the blankets. Several months later, when I had the other knee done, he did not spend so much time under the covers. He must have felt I would be okay without his help.
He did take care of me well, and I’m sure his healing purr did its magic.
5) Better Sleep
Several studies, some from the UK and one from the Mayo Clinic reported that people, especially women, slept better when their cat shared the bed. According to the Mayo Clinic, 41% of the people in that study said they sleep better because of the pet, and only 20% said that the cat disturbed their sleep.
6) Stress and Anxiety
If you keep a cat, he could actually trigger the release of chemicals in your body to calm you, thus lowering levels of stress and anxiety.
Pet your cat. His purr helps calm you. Petting that incredibly soft fur can do such good things as lowering your heart rate and blood pressure and decreasing anxiety.
One reason for cats appearing in hospitals and nursing homes hinges on this ability of the cat, just by being himself. to give the patient all the advantages one can get by interacting with him.
7) Companionship
If you are alone, I recommend getting a cat. They become such good, faithful companions that they banish loneliness. The cat depends on you, if you are the caregiver, to feed him and care for him. When your cat shows love for you, how can you react in any way but positively?
When you establish a relationship with your cat, you have found a simple and pure way to elevate positive mental health. This positive interaction comes as a nice change from the sometimes negative relationships you might have with other people.
8) Mood Lifters
Would you like a positive reason to watch funny cat videos? In a study of over 7,000 people done by Indiana University Bloomington, they found that watching cat videos did people some good. It gave them an energy boost and encouraged positive emotions, and at the same time, negative feelings decreased.
Therefore, if you are feeling low, go on over to You-Tube and watch cats doing something amusing. Your laugh energizes positive reactions in your body.
9) Helping Children In Other Ways
As already mentioned, if a child has a cat in the home from their earliest years, they will have less of a tendency to develop allergies and respiratory infections.
Another way cats can benefit comes about if the child is autistic. Children with this condition can show behavior improvements if the family gets a pet after the child turns five. Such a child will show better sharing behaviors, and will be more apt to offer comfort to others.
As these areas tend to become problems for such children, the family may find relief if they get a cat.
So, I ask you, what’s not to like about sharing your life with a cat? Oh, of course, you have to feed them and clean the litter box. That’s a small price to pay for kitty benefits. A cat might actually understand if you are feeling down and in need of comforting. Kitty may also find other ways to help improve your general health.
My cat, without words, could calm me, relieve my stress, make me laugh, offer love, and in general make life a lot more cheerful. Not only that, but a cat will not argue, will not hold a grudge, won’t tell my secrets or spend my money. My cat inspires me to do my best…after all, he expects it of me.
Love your cat, as he can return your love and help your health.
References I used for this post:
goodnet.org/articles/7-scientifically-proven-health-benefits-being-cat-owner akcreunite.org/catsimprovementalhealth/ cathealth.com/cat-care/adoption/2381-cats-help-humans medicalnewstoday.com/articles/322716 petplan.co.uk/pet-information/cat/advice/how-do-cats-help-human-health/
My two are my lethargy gurus. I aspire to be able to rest as they do. 🙂
Ah, yes, if we only were allowed to rest as much as our cats, we’d never get tired! Probably part of the time when we think they are sleeping, they are plotting their next mischievous adventure. Never a dull moment with kitties.