Brain and pets.

We all know that the functionality of our organs and systems decreases with age. The brain is no exception. This is inevitable — with the onset of the stages of aging of the body, the most important organ of our central nervous system becomes susceptible to various kinds of diseases, including neurodegenerative ones, for example, the well-known Alzheimer’s disease. But even if we are lucky and this disease has not begun to develop, then all the same, with age, the brain works worse — this is a fact.

And, of course, now, in the information age, there are a lot of recipes on the Internet for extending the period of brain functionality. These recipes often come down to recommendations about physical activity and mental activity (for example, learning foreign languages). But then recently I came across a very interesting study by scientists at the University of Michigan. Their comparative analyzes of various groups of subjects showed that there is the most wonderful way to support the brain in old age — just get a pet!

And now about everything in order. So, the course of the study was as follows: one and a half thousand people aged 62–68 agreed to have their cognitive abilities compared and analyze the results of this comparison for a long time. Among the subjects were owners of pets (53% of the total number of participants in the experiment). Further, of these owners of cats, dogs and other cuteness — almost a third (32%) of the animals lived more than 5 years.

We tested the mental abilities of the study participants using math tasks, memory tasks, studied the ability to concentrate, and tracked the speed of task completion.

Initially, the test results showed that the intelligence indicators were normal for everyone, but after 6 years of research, the test results began to show that cognitive abilities were no longer the same. Absolutely in all participants of the experiment, they were weakening, but … the rate of weakening of the functioning of the central nervous system was not the same. Mental abilities weakened more slowly in those people who were happy owners of cute cats and dogs, and even more slowly they weakened in those whose pets lived for more than 5 years. In fairness, it is worth noting that such a factor as having a higher education significantly helped slow down the weakening of the brain functionality of the happy owner of pets.

What is the reason for such a benefit from our smaller brothers at our side? And, meanwhile, this benefit cannot be overestimated! It has long been known that the presence of pets helps to relieve stressful experiences, people communicate with their pets, take care of them, take care of them, walk them. All this together makes up a small social hierarchy in which a person remains the main, responsible, caring and in demand. So, if you want to enjoy the clarity of mind in old age — go ahead, to the pet store!

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