Pet Therapy For The Heart

Dogs have truly proven they are man’s best friend. A study led by a nurse Kathie Cole, at the University of California Los Angeles Medical Center used dogs to interact with heart patients.

The study conducted by Kathie, used therapeutic dogs. There were 76 patients with an average age of 57, that had been hospitalized with heart failure.

Patients received a visit from a volunteer with a dog, just a volunteer or no visit at all; physiological responses were measured before, during and after the visits. The findings were that anxiety dropped 24%, in the patients that were visited by a volunteer with a dog.  There was only a 10% drop in patients when visited by a volunteer and those with no visits stayed the same.

When your body is under stress, levels of (epinephrine), which is a hormone, will rise, but after a visit from the dog and volunteer the levels dropped 17%. When a visit by a volunteer was over the level dropped only 2%, the levels rose by 7% when there was no visit at all.

You will find more information on the site below.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/10051979/