This is a great article!

(And I am sorry for missing yesterday!)

Now here’s a truism. One cannot feel bad about the world, at whatever scale, when one pets a dog. I have observed my wife, Jean, kissing and cuddling anyone of our three dogs and she is in a beautiful mental place. Same for me

I love all our three dogs but Oliver, below, is so in tune with me that I swear he practically understands what I say!

So when recently I read a post about the positive effects on mental health that owning a dog provides I just had to share it with you. It was first published in The Dodo.

ooOOoo

Petting A Dog Is Good For Your Brain

As if we needed another reason to love them more ❤️

By Ellen Schmidt

Published on the 14th October, 2022

PIXEL-SHOT/SHUTTERSTOCK.COM

Dog parents already know that petting a dog is one of the best things ever.

And as it turns out, science agrees. While some studies have shown that petting a dog can both lower your stress and release the “feel good” hormone, oxytocin, new research suggests that petting a dog is good for your brain in other ways, too.

Scientists in Switzerland claim in a new study that when you pet a dog, you can get a boost of brain activity in the frontal cortex — a crucial part of the brain that controls attention, working memory, problem-solving, thinking and emotional reactions.

During the study, participants hung around a pup while fitted with a scanner. They started out just watching the dog from across the room, gradually getting closer until they could pet him. Then they did the same thing with a stuffed animal.

And when comparing both scenarios, researchers discovered there was a stronger boost of brain activity when the real dog was nearby and available for a few pets.

This study just goes to show how great therapy animals truly are, since they can boost the cognitive and emotional activity in the brain of their human in ways a stuffed animal can’t.

“If patients with deficits in motivation, attention and socioemotional functioning show higher emotional involvement in activities connected to a dog, then such activities could increase the chance of learning and of achieving therapeutic aims,” study lead author, Rahel Marti, told CNN.

While pet parents already know just how awesome petting a dog is, it’s good to know the positives of bonding with a pup are endless — just like their love for us.

ooOOoo

I am at the age where I am very anxious to do all that is good for my brain. This “... frontal cortex — a crucial part of the brain that controls attention, working memory, problem-solving, thinking and emotional reactions.” hits the target.

This is a great article as I said at the head of this piece.

Dogs are the perfect companions for us humans; body and mind!

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