Cheaper than psychotherapy

The news on the tech front is so discouraging that I am going to talk about something else today, (I don’t need to depress you with news of a new virus that sends out death threats from your email account, do I? Or tell you who’s laying off hundreds?) and that ‘something’ is cute and cuddly.

Yesterday I was gab-festing, and the person said to me something I had heard before: “it’s a *heck* of a lot cheaper than therapy.”

We were talking about their German Shepard (mix) who is — to phrase it kindly — a hyperactive goofball of less than high IQ.
Basically, a spaz.
But a gen-u-wine sweetheart. A doll.

It has been a while since I have mentioned my regard and esteem for the Humane Society, and animal rescue/adoption centers, and told you about how I have ‘rescued’ all of my furry friends from “the pound” over the years. And asked you to consider a pet..

Here is an excerpt from a great article, Pets and your health: the good and the bad

House pets can affect your psychological and physical health in many ways.

“Health: An Australian survey found that dog and cat owners were in better health than people with neither (health was measured either by how often people went to the doctor or by how much medication they took). And a study with people on Medicare found that those who owned pets made fewer doctor visits than those who didn’t.

Hypertension: A number of studies have found that just being around a dog or petting a dog can lower blood pressure. One study found the same with a pet goat. Another found that simply watching a Lassie movie was enough to lower stress.

Longevity: A year after being released from a coronary care unit, a 1980 study found, pet owners were more likely to have survived than people who didn’t have pets.

Bone strength: The sound frequencies ofcats’ purrs are between 25 and 150 Hertz. Some researchers have found that sound frequencies between 20 and 50 Hertz can improve bone density and speed the healing of bones and muscles. So maybe that purr … don’t laugh. Some scientists actually have suggested this.

Allergy prevention: Evidence is mounting that children raised with pets are less likely to develop allergies to the animals than children raised without. In at least one study, the effect was greater with cats than with dogs. And in at least one other, the preventive effect extended to dust mite, ragweed and grass allergies.

Obesity: A study in Australia found that children who had a dog in their household were less likely to be overweight or obese than children who didn’t.

Fitness: In one study, two out of three dog owners took Fido for regular walks. Younger owners were more likely to walk than older owners, and younger dogs were more likely to get taken out than older ones. Bigger dogs got to go on longer walks than smaller ones. Another study found that dog owners were 60% more likely to go for walks in their leisure time than people who owned cats or who didn’t own any pet. Finally, a third study suggests that if you want to shape up, dogs make better walking buddies than humans do — perhaps because dogs don’t make up excuses for why they can’t go that day.

Smoking: Almost 30% of pet owners who smoked said they’d try to quit if they were convinced that secondhand smoke could hurt their pets, a survey found. (Less than 2% said the same thing about their children.)

Schoolwork: Several studies have reported that young children who had had pets (goldfish, hamsters or dogs) were better at making simple biological inferences than children who had never had a pet. Another found that students in a 10-week reading program who practiced reading out loud to dogs improved their skills by 12%. The students in the program who didn’t read to dogs didn’t improve at all.

Math: Pet owners who had lower blood pressure than non-owners to begin with experienced less of a rise in that pressure when they had to do mental arithmetic. Blood pressure rose least of all for those owners whose pets were with them while they made their calculations.

Heroism: A pit bull who saved a baby from a burning house was recently in the news. Many animals, and especially mammals, are hard-wired to save their own babies from danger, says Pluis Davern, a professional dog trainer in Gilroy, Calif. “But the fact that this dog has encompassed a human baby in its sense of family is probably uniquely canine.” Read more..

A pet doesn’t have to be furry: And I don’t believe I have ever mentioned that for a while I was big time ‘into’ tropical fish. I found looking at a fish tank oddly relaxing.. more so than a fire in a fireplace. A great stress reducer.

I have never owned a parrot, though. But I used to know a guy who had a beautiful Macaw he would put on his shoulder and go into the singles bars. (The bird’s name was “C.M.”. I’ll let you guess what the initials stood for.) At the time, he said it was the best investment he ever made..

Me? Some years ago now, I was adopted by a cat. A fact for which I am grateful much more often than not. And I repeat: if there is a void in your life.. you may want to rescue/adopt a furry friend. Doing so will change your life. (And theirs.) Again, read the article, Pets and your health: the good and the bad

Today’s quote: “The taxpayers are sending congressmen on expensive trips abroad. It might be worth it except they keep coming back.” ~ Will Rogers

Copyright 2007-2012 © “Tech Paul” (Paul Eckstrom). All Rights Reserved.

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All we really have, in the end, are our stories.
Make yours great ones. Ones to be proud of.