What are the health benefits of having a pet?

A study on heart attack survivors found that the survival rate within one year of the heart attack was 94 percent for pet owners and only 72 percent for non-pet-owners. It didn't matter what kind of pet the person owned, either -- dog, cat, bird, or iguana. Other confounding variables, such as differing life circumstances, could not account for the difference. In an expanded and more rigorous study, the results were similar. In fact, it showed that the survival rate for dog owners after a heart attack was even better. When translated into RealAge (physiologic age) terms, the heart attack sufferers who owned dogs were as much as 3.25 years younger during their recovery period than those who did not own dogs. Other studies have found that pet owners have lower blood pressure and lower lousy low-density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol levels. Also, pet owners seem to suffer fewer headaches, cold sores, and other chronic infections and seem to have a better overall sense of psychological well-being. It appears, too, that pet owners fare better during especially stressful times, suffering major life events less severely than those who don't own pets. Pet owners do not have as many bouts of depression, and maintain better self-esteem.