Having a pet is a great responsibility, and it doesn't matter what we explain to you below; If you're not ready, don't adopt a dog. However, if you are one of those who already have an animal member in the family, a recent study ensures that dog owners have four times more likely to meet current physical activity recommendations.
The study involved hundreds of British households, showing that owning a dog can significantly influence how much exercise people get. Still, the research also raises questions about why people never walk their pets or get any other exercise, or whether any of us should get a dog to motivate ourselves to be more active on a daily basis.
People with dogs vs people without pets
As I said before, having a dog is not trivial. It requires responsibility and commitment, and I know there are times when it can be uphill. There are several investigations that have tested the link between having a dog and being active frequently, but they have always been small and of doubtful reliability. For this reason, researchers from the University of Liverpool and other institutions have wanted to make a complete comparison between people without dogs and those without pets.
In the new study, which was published in Scientific Reports, they recruited a neighborhood near Liverpool (nearly 700 participants from 385 households in the area) and surveyed families about their lives and pets. The scientists focused on a single community, so there wasn't too much of a distinction in the local environment—sidewalks, parks, and areas where you can exercise. Nearly a third of the total owned a dog.
The researchers asked everyone to answer a lengthy questionnaire about how much and how much they exercised each week. In addition, some families were provided with monitors to track their activity and asked to wear them for a week while exercising as usual. Later, they collected all the data and the comparison began.
Who are more active?
It was clearly seen that people with dogs walked more often than people without pets. Most of the dog owners spent a few 300 minutes weekly taking a walk with your pet. This means that they walked about 200 minutes more than people without a dog.
It should be remembered that the World Health Organization (WHO) recommends doing at least 150 minutes of moderate exercise a week. Therefore, the owners with dogs complied with this healthy suggestion.
In addition, the study showed that owners were also encouraged to jogging, cycling and going to the gym without their dogs, so it can be quite motivating to have a canine company. And, as a curiosity, the healthy young women they were the sector of the population that never took the dog for a walk.
«A dog is not a tool to make us more physically active", commented Westgarth, author of the study. «But if you feel you have the time, interest, and finances to take on the responsibility of dog ownership, then they're the perfect incentive to go for a walk when you might have made excuses not to.«.