Early last year, we unexpectedly lost the only “sitting” member of our wellness committee, Dutch Baldwin. Dutch was a 10-year- old English Cocker Spaniel who spent his entire life in the service of Sally and Walter Baldwin. Born on March 22, 2008, he was trained as a companion animal to Sally who suffered from Alzheimer’s disease. He went on to serve as Walter’s trusted advisor and shadow. He came to the office on most days where he delighted in honey nut cheerios, belly rubs, making copies and going out to lunch. On foot, he was always at Mr. B’s heel. In the car, he rode shotgun regardless of the number of passengers. We are all still heartbroken. He is deeply missed.
Our canine comrades, like Dutch, can play significant roles in our wellbeing. They provide structure to our days and increase physical activity. Studies repeatedly demonstrate that pet owners have lower blood pressure and recover faster from stress. Pets’ greatest impact, however, may be in protecting their owners from loneliness and social isolation.
A recent article published in Forbes headlines that loneliness might be a bigger health risk than smoking or obesity. Citing a 2015 meta-analysis conducted by Brigham Young University, the article reports that social isolation, loneliness and living alone are correlated with increased mortality by 29%, 26% and 32% respectively. While some of the results are from practical considerations such as a sudden accident while alone, results remain consistent across gender, length of follow-up, and world region. Physicians are just now beginning to understand how loneliness can have a direct physiological impact on the body. Correlated with elevated stress hormones and depressed immunity, loneliness also appears to undermine regulation of the circulatory system increasing risk for heart attack and stroke.
As Tom Rath and Jim Harter point out in their book Wellbeing, The Five Essential Elements, human beings need an average of six hours of social interaction each day. The authors report that on days without social interaction, individuals have an equal chance of having a good or bad day. By increasing social interaction to three hours, the chances of having a good day go up by 10%. It continues to increase for each additional hour up until six hours, when there is a tipping point. At six hours, the extroverts are asking “where’s the after party?” And the introverts are ducking for cover. Regardless of one’s personality type, pets act as social catalysts. As a dyed-in-the-wool introvert and dog person, I can attest to the fact that I know every dog in my neighborhood and only incidentally most of their owners. Without my corgi James’ cuteness and extraversion as ice breakers, my neighbors would still be strangers.
If your lifestyle is not conducive to living with or caring for a pet, you can still get the benefit by volunteering at your local animal shelter. Just 15 minutes of petting a rescue releases a flood of feel good hormones in you and provides some much-needed companionship to the animal. Most shelters are in desperate need of volunteers to sit and play with cats and walk dogs. In memory of Dutch, we are going to be doing a lot more of that. Please join us.
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