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Stats & Facts

Home / Stats & Facts
Health Benefits of Friendship

Friendship is a single soul dwelling in two bodies. – Aristotle

The more friends women had, the less likely they were to develop physical impairments as they age and the more likely they were to be leading a joyful life. – Gale Berkowitz, The Nurses Health Study, Harvard Medical School

The actions of hugging, listening, sharing, connecting and celebrating life with friends decreases the stress hormone cortisol and, in women, increases the feel-good hormone and “friendship elixir”, oxytocin. – Shelley E. Taylor, The Tending Instinct

Friendship accounts for approximately 70% of overall marital satisfaction. “The quality of a couple’s friendship” was found to be five times as important as “physical intimacy.” – Tom Rath, Vital Friends: The People You Can’t Afford to Live

Loneliness is a major contributor to premature death in this country. – Dr. James J. Lynch, author, The Broken Heart: The Medical Consequences of Loneliness

Forty-two percent of dog owners say companionship or friendship is the main reason why they own a dog. – Gallup Poll, Companionship and Love of Animals Drive Pet Ownership

Health Benefits of Gratitude

If a fellow isn’t thankful for what he’s got, he isn’t likely to be thankful for what he’s going to get. – Frank A. Clark

Grateful people tend to be satisfied with what they have and so are less susceptible to such emotions as disappointment, regret and frustration. – UC Davis University of California

When you are grateful, fear disappears and abundance appears. – Anthony Robbins

Grateful people — those who perceive gratitude as a permanent trait rather than a temporary state of mind — have an edge on the not-so-grateful when it comes to health. Grateful people take better care of themselves and engage in more protective health behaviors like regular exercise, a healthy diet, regular physical examinations. – Robert Emmons, UC Davis

Health Benefits of Hugs

A hug is two hearts wrapped in arms. – unknown

We need four hugs a day for survival. We need eight hugs a day for maintenance. We need twelve hugs a day for growth. – Virgina Satir, “The Mother of Family Therapy”

Touch affects the cerebellar brain system, an area of the brain where basic positive emotions such as trust and affection probably come from. – Linda Blair, Clinical Psychologist. Bath University

Hugging Until Relaxed is a therapeutic technique that encourages partners to hold each other while in a standing hug.

Health Benefits of Mirth

Mirth is short and transient, cheerfulness fixed and permanent. Mirth is like a flash of lightning that breaks through a gloom of clouds, and glitters for a moment: cheerfulness keeps up a kind of day-light in the mind, and fills it with a steady and perpetual serenity. – Joseph Addison

Laughter is an instant vacation. – Milton Berle

Just the anticipation of mirth reduces the levels of three stress hormones, cortisol, epinephrine and dopac.- Dr. Lee Berk

One hundred laughs is the aerobic equivalent of ten minutes spent rowing. – Dr. Stephen Post, Why Good Things Happen to Good People

Laughing lowers blood pressure, reduces stress hormones, increases muscle flexion, and boosts immune function by raising levels of infection-fighting T-cells, disease-fighting proteins called Gamma-interferon and B-cells, which produce disease-destroying antibodies. Laughter also triggers the release of endorphins, the body’s natural painkillers, and produces a general sense of well-being. -Dr. L. Berk & Dr. S. Tan, Loma Linda University, California

The average person laughs 15 times a day. – American Averages

According to the United Nations International Labor Organization, “Stress has become one of the most serious health issues of our times”. The quickest, most effective way to beat stress is literally to laugh it off. – Larry Wilde, Founder, National Humor Month

Health Benefits of Pups & Purrs

A dog is one of the remaining reasons why some people can be persuaded to go for a walk. – O.A. Battistacrates

If you put a cat and a bunch of broken bones in the same room, the bones will heal. –unknown

Interacting and petting animals creates a hormonal response in humans that can help fight depression. – News-Medical.net

Research shows that more is better with the households with multiple pets (cats & dogs) showing lower allergic responses. – Journal of the American Medical Association Pet owners have fewer minor health problems. – Friedmann, 1990, Serpel, 1990

A pet can serve as an emotional refuge, a patient listener and a connective tissue that gives the family, no matter its trials, a sense of purpose and belonging. – Dr. Marty Becker with Danielle Morton, The Healing Power of Pets Harnessing the Amazing Ability of Pets to Make and Keep People Happy and Healthy

Interacting and petting animals creates a hormonal response in humans that can help fight depression. – News-Medical.net

Study found that only one month after acquiring a dog or a cat, seniors had 50 percent fewer minor medical problems, such as painful joints, hay fever, insomnia, constipation, anxiety, indigestion, colds and flue, general tiredness, palpitations or breathlessness, back pain and headaches. – Dr. Marty Becker, The amazing power of pets to heal (Report)

Cats get people reminiscing about cats they’ve had. That helps improve the patient’s memory and mental health. – Pat Gonser, founder of Pets and People: Companions in Therapy and Service

Purr frequencies correspond to vibrational/electrical frequencies used in treatment for bone growth/fractures, pain, edema, muscle growth/strain, joint flexibility, dyspnea, and wounds. Source: Fauna Communications Research Institute, The Felid Purr: A bio-mechanical healing mechanism

Studies show that the sound of a cat’s purr keeps their bones strong – and strengthens the bones of their companions. –www.tesh.com

Research shows that more is better with the households with multiple pets (cats & dogs) showing lower allergic responses. – Journal of the American Medical Association

70% of families surveyed reported an increase in family happiness and fun after getting a pet. – Cain, 1985

Heart attack sufferers who owned a dog are “eight time more likely to survive one year after suffering a heart attack” and that “pet owners have healthier hearts than heart attack patients who don’t have a dog, cat or other pets”. – Dr. Marty Becker, The Amazing Power of Pets to Heal (report)

Health Benefits of Smiles

If you see a friend without a smile; give him one of yours. – Proverb

People who smile more often have a more positive effect on their environment, and are better received by others. – Abel, MH, Hester, R. (2002). The therapeutic effects of smiling

People who smile more may live longer. A study of pictures taken of baseball players in 1952 suggest those smiling outlived their non-smiling counterparts by seven years. – Abel & Kruger, 2010

A smile gives the same level of stimulation as eating 2,000 chocolate bars. –The British Dental Health Foundation

Seeing a smile creates what is termed as a “halo” effect, helping us to remember other happy events more vividly, fell more optimistic, more positive and more motivated. – Smile! The Remarkable Personal Benefits of Smiling, SixWise.com

When someone is smiling they lighten up the room, change the moods of others, and make things happier. – Dr. Mark Stibich, About.com Longevity

Happiness does not heal, but happiness protects against falling ill. – Prof. Ruut Veenhoven of Rotterdam’s Erasmus University

Health Benefits of Volunteerism

Volunteers do not necessarily have the time; they have the heart. – Elizabeth Andrew

Volunteering in adolescence prevents teen pregnancy and academic failure, enhances social competence and self-esteem, and protects against anti-social behaviors and substance abuse. (Allen, et al., 1997)

Volunteers scored significantly higher in life satisfaction and will to live and had fewer symptoms of depression, anxiety, and somatization. (Hunter & Lin Study, 1981)

States with high volunteer rate also had lower rates of heart disease. (Corp.for National Service, 2007)

Note: Two hours a week of volunteer service is recommended to maximize its health-boosting benefits.

Health Benefits of Walking

Walking is a man’s best medicine. – Hippocrates

Walking briskly for 30 minutes daily can reduce your resting heart rate as much as 10% and cutting your heart attack risk by 50%. Source: Natural Health

Heart disease is this country’s No.1 killer. But by exercising for as little as 30 minutes each day you can reduce your risk. Source: The American Heart Association

Dog owners walked an average of 300 minutes a week compared to 168 minutes for those without a dog. – HealthyWomen.org

A study done in 2000 found that an experimenter walking a dog had three times as many social interactions than when she walked alone. That’s because animals can serve as social facilitators, according to Beck. This isn’t just a matter of small talk: What starts as a casual chat at the dog run can carry over into friendship or even a long-term relationship. – The Health Benefits Of Having A Dog, Jessica Gross http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/04/21/health-benefits-dogs_n_1421573.html?ref=health-and-fitness&ncid=edlinkusaolp00000008

People who did not own dogs had over three times the odds of being treated for diabetes than those who walked their dogs. – Cindy Lentino, Exercise Scientist, George Washington University School of Public Health and Health Services, Washington, D.C.

You are getting an upper body workout by holding the dog and a lower body workout by walking, and, best of all, you get social interaction. – Bashir Zikria MD, assistant professor in the Department of Orthopaedics, Johns Hopkins Medical Institution in Baltimore.

We found that owning one or more dogs was associated with pregnant women taking part in brisk walking on a regular basis, helping them to achieve the recommended 150 minutes of activity a week. – Dr. Carri Westgarth, University’s Institute of Infection and Global Health

Walking your dog for half an hour or even 10 minutes three times a day will help to significantly reduce pain and stiffness. – Dr. Patience White, Chief Public Health Officer of the Arthritis Foundation

Every lost pound subtracts four pounds of pressure from the knees. –Arthritis and Rheumatism, July 2005

93% of Boomers state that exercise is a primary way to manage healthy aging. Only 27% do it regularly, and only 21% do it infrequently. That means 53% don’t bother at all. – Natural Marketing Institute “Boomers and Healthy Aging” study, 2005

People with severe arthritis move even less than sedentary people. Pets bring activity, and from activity springs health. – Dr. Virginia Byers-Draus, M.D., Ph.D

“With proper diet, exercise and medical treatment, mobility can be maintained and arthritis pain reduced,” says Dr. Patience White, chief public health officer of the Arthritis Foundation. “Walking your dog for a half an hour or even 10 minutes three times a day will help to significantly reduce pain and stiffness.”

Women over 40 who added 3,520 steps (just over 1 ¾ mile) to their day lost 5 lbs in a year without changing anything else AND decreased dangerous belly fat by 12%. – Merritt Watts

No cost. Walking is essentially free. All you need is a comfortable pair of shoes, some soft socks, and a safe place to walk.- P.J. Skerrett, Senior editor, Harvard Health

A new study has quantified the health benefits of dog walking, and they’re surprisingly substantial, including a lower risk of high blood pressure, a trimmer waistline and fewer chronic conditions. Bashir Zikria MD, assistant professor in the Department of Orthopaedics at Johns Hopkins Medical Institution in Baltimore. You are getting upper body work by holding the dog and a lower body workout by walking, and best of all you get social interaction.

“The big is that people who did not own dogs had over three times the odds of being treated for diabetes than those who walked their dogs,” says study author Cindy Lentino, an exercise scientist at George Washington University School of Public Health and Health Services in Washington, D.C. – Dog Walking May Lead to Big Health Benefits http://www.arthritistoday.org/news/health-benefits-dog-walking063.php

Walking “strengthens muscles, which helps shift pressure from joints and reduces pain. And repeated walking compresses and releases the cartilage in your knees, helping circulate synovial fluid that brings oxygen and nourishes your joints. When joints don’t get this nourishment, they deteriorate faster. – Mary Anne Dunkin, author, Five Walking Strategies for Fitness Success

Note: “Moderate” walking example include: Walking 2 miles in 30 minutes (15 min/mile) and Walking 1.75 miles in 35 minutes (20 min/mile)

A growing body of research indicates that physical activity is just as important for your brain as it is for your body. -Madonna Behen

When you can’t walk a quarter mile in five minutes, your chance of dying within three years goes up dramatically. – Dr. Oz

5 More Reasons To Walk. 17 minutes reduces depression symptoms, 17 minutes reduces colon cancer, 18 minutes reduces coronary heart disease, 21 minutes reduces stroke, 30 minutes reduces type 2 diabetes. – Prevention.com, November 2008

One hour of walking at a 2 to 3 mph pace lowers your risk a little. Three to five hours weekly of brisk walking gives you the most protection from breast cancer. – Pam Stephan, Exercise Lowers Breast Cancer Risk

Doing recommended levels of physical activity can cut risk of recurrence and dying from breast cancer by up to 40% and from prostate cancer by up to 30%. -Ciaran Devane, Chief Executive of Macmillan Cancer Support, Move More: Physical Activity The Underrated Wonder Drug

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