Here at TerraBella Hillsborough, we’re a pet-friendly senior living community. This means that your loved ones are more than welcomed and even highly encouraged to bring their pets along with them. According to multiple studies and research, pets are not only adorable furry companions, but they also bring about a number of health benefits to their owners. These health benefits can potentially enrich your loved ones’ life and help them work towards a better quality of life. As such, here are some health benefits of pets for loved ones.
Lower High Blood Pressure
Does your loved one suffer from high blood pressure? If so, pets can be a good solution to remedy that issue. Just by petting the pet helps to lower blood pressure, and relieve stress and tension. Over the years, medical personnel have seen that owning pets have a direct impact on the decreased risk of cardiovascular health. Therefore, your loved ones should take some time out of their day to have physical contact with pets to improve their health.
Decrease Loneliness
Unfortunately, social isolation and loneliness are two problems increasingly faced by many older adults these days. Loneliness can be potentially harmful for loved ones as it can result in poor mental health conditions, such as depression and anxiety. If you’re unable to visit your loved ones occasionally or your loved ones prefer spending time alone, they should consider owning pets as a way to stay engaged. Owning pets can also allow your loved ones opportunities to meet other pet owners and form a connection with them, decreasing the likelihood of them being socially unengaged.
Provide a Sense of Purpose
For many older adults, they might be retired, which can cause them to have no sense of purpose in life as there’s nothing to look forward to. Owning pets can easily solve this issue as your loved ones have to adhere to a set of tasks and responsibilities in order to take care of these pets. Whether it’s cleaning and grooming them or taking them out for walks and exercise, your loved ones would have something to expect and look forward to.
Encourage Physical Movement
When your loved ones get older, they may not have many opportunities to workout and lead an active lifestyle. At times, your loved ones may not even have the motivation to get out of the house. In this case, owning pets can promote a non-sedentary lifestyle as your loved ones will take walks and exercise alongside their pets. Of course, this does not apply to certain pets like fishes.
Stress Relief
Studies have shown that playing with pets can help to decrease the production of cortisol, which is a stress-related hormone. If your loved ones are dealing with any discomfort, pets can also distract them to lessen the pain. This is why here at TerraBella Hillsborough, our residents can take part in pet therapy sessions, where they’re given the chance to interact with pets. We can assure you that after the sessions, your loved ones would be in a better mood and are much calmer.
