Pets keep us company, they provide a chance for us to show affection to another creature, and to care for them. This has many benefits on a mental/emotional level. Studies show that keeping a pet helps relieve stress, decrease symptoms of depression, anxiety, feelings of loneliness and interestingly enough, also helps to enhance social skills.
Pets also give children the opportunity to develop responsibility. Usually we try to get them to take on some of the duties of feeding, changing their water, walking, etc. And kids love having a furry companion at home. I should know, my kids are constantly asking for a dog or a cat! (We settled on a turtle instead.)
Of course there are also some problems associated with keeping pets, things like allergies, asthma, bites, and scratches. But at the same time there are some recent studies are showing that pets may actually help prevent allergies. Most of these studies look at cats and dogs. For example, there is some evidence that kids who have pets at home during infancy have less of a chance to develop food allergies. One study found that the more pets in a home during a child’s first year of life, the less likely they were to develop allergies between the ages of 7 to 9. So the positive effect was dose dependent, meaning the higher the dosage (the number of pets) the better the chance of being protected from allergies. Interesting!
Part of the reason for this effect could be related to the positive impact of a pet on a person’s microbiome. The microbiome refers to the organisms that live symbiotically in a particular part of the body, for example the digestive tract, on the skin, and in the respiratory tract. It’s well documented that people who have greater variety of organisms, have a more diverse and robust microbiome. In other words their microbiome is healthier, and this translates to many different health benefits. One of them being a stronger immune system. It’s inevitable that living with a cat or a dog we would exposed to the same organisms they are. Many studies have shown that this is the case, and there is actually transfer of organisms from animals to humans. This is especially beneficial when the pets are outdoor pets and have exposure to dirt, soil and other microbes from the outside. Pets then help to bring these organisms into the home.
This is in-line with the Hygiene Hypothesis, it’s the name of a theory that attempts to explain why allergies are so prevalent in recent history and seem to increase with each passing year. In North America especially, we have become obsessed with “cleanliness”. Disinfecting wipes, hand sanitizers, anti-bacterial soaps, and other such products. They prevent exposure to helpful organisms which sustain a healthy microbiome. Compared to even 50 years ago, children now spend a lot less time playing outdoors, getting dirty. And all information seems to indicate that having contact with different types of bacteria early in life is critical, because it helps set a healthy pattern for immune system development.
So next time your child wants to roll around in the mud with the dog and get dirty, rest assured it’s good for both of them, and your microbiome will thank you later.
This article appeared in the beijingkids October 2019 Family Foodies issue
