The Pet Prescription
See Spot run. Then see Spot lower your blood pressure and boost your immunity. Really
That's just what Kathie Cole found. Cole is the critical-care nurse who ran the UCLA heart-failure study, presented at last month's American Heart Association meeting. Hospitalized heart patients had a therapy dog climb on their beds and hang out for 12 minutes. Their reactions were compared with patients who were visited by a human alone or had no visitor and simply rested. Patients who spent time with dogs showed a drop in blood pressure on the left side of their hearts--a critical location--of about 10 percent. But pressure actually increased in patients who got a human visitor or who just rested. Levels of a stress hormone called epinephrine also dropped among the patients with dogs.
That kind of calming effect may translate into major health improvements. Friedmann found that dog owners who had heart attacks were slightly more likely to be alive one year later than were non-dog owners. This was true no matter how bad their original heart attack. In another study, pet owners with high blood pressure who were confronted with stress had smaller spikes in their blood pressure than did non-dog owners, even though both groups were on the same blood pressure medication. And in England, a study of 256 schoolchildren showed that kids with pets were less likely to miss school because of illness. They also had more stable levels of immunoglobulin A, a measure of immune-system strength, which could explain the low number of sick days. Even Alzheimer's patients, when their nursing homes were given fish tanks, were less agitated and ate more of their meals, gaining much-needed nutrition.
Animal hospitals. Healthcare facilities are now trying to take advantage of these mind-and-body responses. At Parkland Memorial Hospital in Dallas, Zip, a golden retriever, goes into burn and trauma units. "Just a sweet nuzzle from Zip, and it really helps them," says Lisa Little, the hospital's director of volunteer services. "We had a kid here who'd been unconscious for a month. But the therapist put his hand on Zip's face, and he just started petting the dog. Then he opened his eyes to see what he was petting."
Miles, at Inova Fairfax, has been trying to get a response from Austin Berrier, 19, of Chantilly, Va., a car-accident victim with head trauma who has been drifting in and out of consciousness for weeks. At Horton's command, the dog jumps softly onto the foot of the bed, then works his way slowly through the maze of wires and intravenous tubes to settle his head on Berrier's chest. "Austin, touch him with this hand," says Horton, grabbing Berrier's left arm. Berrier strokes the dog slowly. "OK. Nice job, super. Austin, show me the dog's nose." Berrier moves his hand to Miles's face. Horton is pleased. "He showed cognitive recognition because he was able to show me the dog's nose. That's significant."
Therapy with animals is also helping seriously troubled kids at Green Chimneys, a residential treatment center and day school based on a farm in Brewster, N.Y. "These are children and teens with rage issues that created a safety problem, or attention deficit hyperactivity disorder," says Suz Brooks, a clinical psychologist at the center. "They need to learn to control their behavior and how to be in relationships." The children see that being aggressive with an animal makes it run away, but being calm and attentive lets them approach and interact. Brooks then takes the child and, through role-playing, also shies away from aggression. "The child sees that even Doctor Brooks can be pushed away, but she likes a calm approach. So that behavior with animals gets transferred to behavior with people." Kids stay at Green Chimneys for two years, on average. "About 80 percent of our kids don't get sent back here and instead return to their families and schools," says Brooks.
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