When one hears the word medical care, there immediately springs to mind the idea of pills or surgery or both.  In reality, the sad truth is that most disease in the Unites States today comes from unhealthy lifestyles and risky behavior.  Medications are often used in the later years in what is really a 40 or 50-year disease process related to a person’s life style.

     Previous columns have described studies in which lifestyle change worked better than medicine to prevent the onset of diabetes.  Columns have talked about the intense destructiveness of uncontrolled anger, pessimism, social isolation, and ineffective stress management.

     Today’s column is addressed to an interesting study that was recently published documenting and quantifying the value of having a pet.  By pets we are referring to living, breathing animals such as dogs, cats, or horses (pet rocks don’t count).  Over the years, doctors and nurses have noticed that a pet seems to make a tremendous difference in the well-being and mental health of patients who have been in a psychiatric institution.  It has been noted that women and children who have been abused fare much better in the recovery phase when there is a pet in the home.  The study to be described below now documents the value of a pet in preventing stroke, heart attack and in lowering blood pressure.

     The study was published in a journal called Psychosomatic Medicine recently.  Two hundred and forty married couples half who had a pet in the home were evaluated for what is called “vascular reactivity”.  This is a term that is used to quantify the person’s response to stress.  People whose blood pressures increase substantially in these tests have poor vascular reactivity, poor stress responses and tend to have strokes and heart attacks with much greater frequency than people whose blood pressures remain lower in these tests.

     It may sound a little strange but the first test that done is to place the person’s hand up to the wrist in ice water.  This will raise the blood pressure slightly in some people and a great deal in people who have poor vascular reactivity.  The hand is allowed to remain in the ice water for one minute or until the person can no longer stand it before that time.  The highest blood pressure recorded over the next several minutes is used as a measure of the “vascular reactivity”.
Higher blood pressures indicate worse vascular reactivity.

     The second test that is done is called the “mental arithmetic test”.  By this test, the person is asked to add and subtract numbers.  The numbers start off very simply and increase in difficulty until the person is guaranteed to make a mistake.  The tested individual is made aware that time is of essence and thus, this is like the old third grade speed test.  The person being tested doesn’t know it but the testor is trained to make derogatory caustic comments about the testee’s capabilities.  Thus, the first time the person misses a question they are told “That’s a shame.  You will have to start all over.”  After the second or third mistake, comments are made such as, “Can’t you get anything right?”  With the right inflections and timing, these comments can become very disruptive.  The person’s blood pressure is measured every minute during the test by an automatic device.  The highest blood pressure obtained is another measure of the person’s vascular reactivity. It should be noted that this test has nothing to do with the person’s arithmetic capability.  Instead, it is a test of how the person reacts when they make a mistake.   These may sound like very crude tests but they have proved remarkably reliable in predicting heart disease and stroke in tested populations.

     To get to the point of this column, the question was raised as to whether the families that had a pet in the home would do better, worse, or the same on these tests as those that who did not have a pet at home.  To complicate the problem, individuals were tested under four separate circumstances: 1.  In isolation,  2.  With their pet available in the room,  3.  With their spouse in the room,  4.  With their spouse and their pet in the room.

     The results were striking.  The worst responses were seen when the person’s spouse was in the room.  The authors felt that no one really wanted to “look like an arithmetic idiot in front of their spouse”.  Thus, blood pressures went the highest when the spouse was in the room.  Having their pet in the room with them neutralized that effect but having the pet in the room alone with the person being tested decreased the vascular reactivity and let the blood pressure stay lower all the way around.  The pet in these situations was either a dog or a cat.  Everyone knows that your dog or your cat could not care less about how well you add or subtract.  The pressure is off when you perform in front of your pet.

     Other studies have been done over the past many years and all have been small and “under powered”.  Be that as it may, all published studies to this time have demonstrated the saluatory effect of having a pet in the home in regard to longevity and decreased cardiac events.  Nursing homes have recently learned that pets seem to have a very beneficial effect for the residents in a nursing facility. Whereas before, pets were prohibited because of potential health considerations, it is now recognized that there is a benefit to having pets in the nursing home.

     Animal bites and allergies to the pet’s dander notwithstanding, it would appear that a non-medical consideration such as simply having a pet in the home seems to have a beneficial effect in decreasing strokes and heart attacks.  Walking a dog has addition fringe benefits of increasing exercise.  The warmth and love that a pet brings is always a special benefit for all.  In this sense, “a dog is man’s best friend” takes on new and added value.  It is not a pill and it is not surgery but is a clear medical benefit.

    Please note I am not advocating that you provide a surprise pet for your parents or friends.  Before the pet is provided, please be sure that the person would like to have the pet.