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 Researchers matched 43 older adults with dogs to another 43 without
dogs and measured their time spent walking. Compared to those
without canine companions, dog owners walked on average 23 minutes
more a day - enough to meet U.S. and international exercise
recommendations for substantial health benefits, the research found.
“It’s very difficult to find any other intervention that produces
this size of effect,” said senior author Dr. Daniel Simon Mills, a
professor of veterinary behavioral medicine at the University of
Lincoln in England.
“It’s good evidence that dog ownership amongst the elderly increases
physical activity in a meaningful and healthy way,” he said in a
video call.
Participants in the study were 65 to 81 years old, lived
independently in one of three counties in England and wore monitors
that measured their movements for three one-week periods over the
course of a year. The time periods were designed to capture
participants’ steps in different seasons and under varied weather
conditions, researchers reported in BioMed Central Public Health.
Dog owners and participants who did not own dogs were matched by
gender, height, weight, health conditions and walking abilities. All
were white British, and nearly two-thirds were women. The average
participant was at least slightly overweight.
The average dog in the study was nearly eight years old.
Dog owners walked on average 21 minutes more than those without dogs
at an at-least moderate pace, the study found.
“Virtually all of the increased exercise is not just dawdling,”
Mills said. “It’s marching.”
Over the course of a week, the additional 147 minutes dog owners
spent walking at a moderate pace would in itself be just three
minutes shy of World Health Organization recommendations of at least
150 minutes of moderate to vigorous weekly physical activity, the
study authors note.
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends that
adults do a minimum of 150 minutes a week of moderate-intensity
exercise or 75 minutes of vigorous-intensity aerobic activity a
week.
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By matching dog owners to people without dogs, Mills said he
believes the new study clarifies that the benefits of dog ownership
stem from having dogs, rather than from dog owners being more active
in the first place.
But Marcia Stefanick, a professor at the Stanford University School
of Medicine in California, hesitated to ascribe all the benefits to
the dogs.
“Despite ‘successful matching’ on what the authors consider key
variables, a person who is ready and willing to walk a dog at least
twice a day is more likely to get a dog than one who sees that
commitment as too challenging,” said Stefanick, who researches
disease prevention and was not involved in the study.
“On the other hand, once a person has a dog, the motivation and
likelihood that he or she would at least walk around the block, with
several stops along the way, would clearly be higher,” she said in
an email.
The study confirms previous studies in which dog owners reported
walking more than people without dogs. It also shows that the
additional walking was at a moderate clip.
“We saw a big increase in healthy activity and at a level that is
considered to be health promoting,” Mills said.
“If you’d like to get a dog, don’t be put off by the fact you’re
elderly,” he said. “It’s good for the dog, and it’s good for you.”
SOURCE: http://bit.ly/2s0YN1Y BioMed Central Public Health, online
June 8, 2017.
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