Relax. Our canine friends are more than happy to help us calm down.
The dog in the centre of the picture above is called Fred.
His owner is a senior member of the staff at The Medical Republic, and he is quite probably the most loveable canine on the entire planet.
When Fred first visited our urban-chic inner-city office a year or so back, he quietly padded up to each team member for a cuddle and a pat, and, having dispensed with the formal introductions, proceeded to deliver a massive dump in a conspicuous location.
To this day, the memory of Fred’s chutzpah provides an endorphin boost sufficient to get all of us through the trials and tribulations of an average day spent in the pursuit of quality medical journalism.
And it turns out you don’t have to be a trouper like Fred to do diligent doggy duty – a mere 15 minutes of friendly interaction with a positive pooch is enough to reduce stress levels, according to a study published today in PLOS ONE.
We have researchers at Thailand’s Chiang Mai University to thank for this latest investigation into the benefits of what they call canine-assisted intervention.
While earlier studies have already shown that such interventions reduce self-reported stress, the novel element this time is our boffins focused on stress levels and associated biomarkers in the dogs as well.
The researchers recruited 122 Thai university students and six dogs for the study. The canine companions were all privately owned, in good health and comfortable with strangers.
The participants were given 15 minutes to play with one of the dogs then asked to report how stressed they felt before and after the interaction. They then had their blood pressure and heart rates measured, as well the levels of the stress hormone cortisol in their saliva.
Then to see whether the dogs were also benefiting from the exercise, the team measured cortisol levels in their saliva and poo before and after meeting the students.
Unsurprisingly, the students reported feeling less stressed after playing with the dogs, and their heart rates and cortisol levels decreased.
If was a bit different for the canines, however, with cortisol levels in the dogs’ saliva unaffected by the interaction while levels in the dogs’ poo actually increased.
Thankfully, the researchers say that, based on the dogs’ behaviour, this result was more likely to be because they were excited rather than stressed.
As such, the researchers conclude that introducing friendly dogs to harried students could become a valuable addition to university stress management programs.
And for the cat lovers out there, we agree that it is entirely possible that the same result could be achieved using cats instead of dogs …
As if.
Send meaty story bites to penny@medicalrepublic.com.au.
