There are a lot of pet owners in the U.S.; between 70 and 80 million dogs and about the same number of cats share our lives. (1) The Research on Pet Ownership You’ve probably heard through newspapers, magazines, TV, radio—and, of course, the Internet—that pet ownership positively impacts your health. Animal-assisted therapy has become commonplace in hospitals, nursing homes and rehabilitation centers. What’s the research on the impact of pets? Actually research results are a mixed bag. There has been much research, but often there are problems with the research, low numbers of research participants, or difficulty in culling out the effect of pet ownership and animal assisted therapy with other factors. For example, a meta-analysis of several studies of people with poor social function who participated in animal-assisted therapy did find social function improvement. It also found moderate effects on depression, anxiety and behavioral issues. But the authors felt that the research methods used in the reviewed studies were inconsistent; they even said to be “conservative” when interpreting their meta-analysis results. (2) Positive Health Impacts of Pet Ownership However, pet ownership research has had positive findings. One study looking at pet ownership among older adults found that those people who lived alone without a pet were at greater odds of reporting feeling lonely. (3) This outcome may be due to what another research study found: pet owners are more likely to get to know their neighbors than non-pet owners. (4) The American Heart Association put together a Scientific Statement based on review of literature around cardiovascular disease risk and pet ownership. They evaluated the literature with an eye on risk factors like high blood pressure, hyperlipidemia, lack of physical activity and obesity. With regard to blood pressure, they found that some of the studies found lower blood pressure in people who own pets. Others did not. There wasn’t an association with pet ownership and hyperlipidemia. They found that owning dogs increases the likelihood of physical activity. In fact, dog owners are more likely to achieve the recommended levels of physical activity than non-dog owners. Physical activity can reduce obesity, but another role of pets is social support. Social support is an important component of initiating and maintaining behavior changes like losing weight. Additionally, barriers to exercise, like neighborhood safety, can be overcome with the presence of a dog. Most, but not all studies, show that pet ownership helps with stress. [...]