Are Dogs Beneficial For Adults Over The Age Of 65

The short answer

Dogs are our best friends, they can be extra beneficial for multiple reasons including:

• Helping you stay active by giving them walks, taking them to the park and even just playing with them at home.
• Keeping you social by meeting other people when carrying out an activity with your dog
• Keeping you healthier by relieving stress. It is proven that simply interacting with a dog for 10 minutes will relieve stress
• If you do not like dogs, cats can be great friends too!

Dogs are man’s best friend. They do not care if we give them attention all the time, are out of shape or in shape and they do not care if we are not financially stable. This blog will go over many of the benefits of having a dog and being over the age of 65. 

Dogs help us stay healthier, longer!

A body in motion stays in motion. Staying in motion is great for everyone, especially people aged 65 and up! Having a dog helps to motivate this motion in multiple ways. 

Some days you may not want to get out and walk or exercise, but that is where dogs come in and help. Dogs motivate you to go take them out for a walk to keep them healthy and happy and on the same token, you will be too.

Some days you may not even need to take them for a walk and simply just play with them. Playing with a dog keeps you in motion and will lift your spirits to do more. Next thing you know you will take them out for a walk or even go to your backyard or a park and be active with them.

All this activity leads to a happier lifestyle along with increased performance. This increase in performance will propel your health upward and help you stay healthy to do all of the things you love like playing with your grandkids, cooking, walking on the beach or anything else you enjoy.

Dogs help you stay social

The dog community is enormous, having a dog will allow you to connect on a social level with everyone in that community. This will help you stay social which is proven to be a necessity to remain happy and healthy. 

Anytime you walk your dog or take it to the park is an opportunity to meet with new people. These people may become friends that you see and talk to every time you do these activities with your dog. The good thing about this is you already have one thing in common with anyone else that has a dog and gives you something to talk about. 

It does not matter if these people become life-long friends or just a person to talk with for the moment. Having that little bit of time communicating with another person will help you stay mentally active and make you feel better.

Dogs can help you recover from a health scare

It can be really difficult to recover from a health scare, even harder if you have to do it alone. A dog can be your friend while you are recovering and give you comfort while being by your side.

Just petting a dog can relieve stress, according to People magazine, people that pet or interact with dogs for even 10 minutes can help reduce stress levels. Recovering can bring on a lot of stress and make the process harder. Simply having a dog give you their unconditional love will give you the stress relief you need to get better faster. 

Dogs can motivate you to get better for them as well. That same unconditional love they give you will be motivational for  

If dogs aren’t your thing cats are great too!

Even if you are not very fond of having a dog you can also look into getting yourself a cat. Cats are not quite as active as dogs are but have many of the same stress relieving properties that dogs have. They can keep you company and give you attention and love.