Reduce Your Stress with a Dog or Cat Friend
Life is stressful before the COVID-19 virus crisis. Today, life is very stressful for many people, and when you are age 40 and beyond, the added stress can spike your blood pressure and adversely impact your health and well-being.
Do you know you are suffering from stress? How do you cope with your stress? Understanding how stress impacts your life is the first step in doing something about it to improve your overall health.
Stress does several things to your body, including making your heart beat harder and faster. As a result of your fast-beating heart, it can increase your blood pressure. Stress can make it even harder to breathe, and if you have pre-existing respiratory problems like asthma or COPD, stress will worsen your condition.
You may have more frequent and severe headaches, frequent insomnia, muscle pain, and fatigue are all symptoms of stress. These are some of the physical issues of stress, but there are mental issues as well.
Stress Creates Physical and Emotional Problems
Some people with stress have anxiety, depression, and loneliness. Often the mental issues of stress get ignored despite having a detrimental impact on your overall health.
How do you ease stress? You can avoid the stressful aspects of your life, but for most people, that is difficult to do if the stress is coming from things out of your control. It is hard to change jobs or get rid of your boss. There can be stressful aspects of your family relationships. Concerns about world events, COVID-19, and the economy are also out of our control. The stressful items in life we have no control over in life are the ones that can make life harder and disrupt the peace of mind we all seek.
Dogs and Cats as Stress Fighters
There are ways to ease the stress. Pets are fast becoming a way for many people to cope in a stressful world. Dogs and cats are wonderful in helping us through stress, anxiety, and depression. These animals become our companions, make us less lonely, and help us stay active. Check out this Cat Website for more information about cats.
Dogs and cats will not judge you - well, some people say cats ARE judging you, but we will never know!
Animals can serve as a source of comfort and support. Therapy dogs are especially good at this. They're sometimes brought into hospitals or nursing homes to help reduce patients' stress and anxiety.
National Institutes of Health (NIH) tell us that interacting with animals can reduce the levels of cortisol in our body (a stress-related hormone) and lower our blood pressure. Other studies, according to NIH, that our pets can reduce loneliness, increase feelings of social support, and boost mood.
"Dogs are very present. If someone is struggling with something, they know how to sit there and be loving. Their attention is focused on the person all the time," says Dr. Ann Berger, a physician, and researcher at the NIH Clinical Center in Bethesda, Maryland.
Many Benefits of Living with a Pet
When you get home and are greeted by your pet and its wagging tail, you understand the pet effect. The Anxiety and Depression Association of America (ADAA) says you get many benefits when living with a pet, including constant companionship, love, and affection.
The ADAA points to a survey of pet owners where 74% reported mental health improvements from pet ownership. The survey also says that friends and family members of a pet owner improved mental health when they owned a pet.
Old-Age and Stress
Many of us stress over old age. Aging happens and being prepared will improve our stress and reduce the stress and anxiety of our loved ones. There is a financial issue with aging and long-term care. Care costs are rising quickly nationwide. But family caregivers, who are often adult children, are often thrust into the role despite being untrained and unprepared.
Caregivers are often so focused on balancing their job of being a caregiver with their other responsibilities, like their jobs and families, that they ignore their health, including mental health.
When caregiving becomes too difficult, physically, and emotionally, the result is for the care recipient to be moved to a long-term care facility or professional care is sought to come into the home. Professional care, either at home or in a facility, is expensive. Care costs will become even more overwhelming in the decades to come.
You and see the current and future cost of long-term health care services by visiting the LTC NEWS Cost of Care Calculator - Cost of Care Calculator - Choose Your State | LTC News.
Preparing for Costs and Burdens of Aging
For many, affordable Long-Term Care Insurance helps reduce the stress and anxiety that longevity can bring. You will have the funding for your choice of care services - even at home. Your loved ones would have the time to be family instead of caregivers.
The majority of those purchasing Long-Term Care Insurance are in their 50s.
No one thing will reduce the stress in your lifetime. However, taking several steps like including a pet in your family and adding LTC Insurance will ease some of the stress and anxiety that life brings us daily.