Study In America Says Pet Owners Have A Better Memory, Here's The Explanation

Illustration. (Photo: Doc. Antara/Pixabay)

JAKARTA - A study by the American Academy of Neurology revealed that having a pet at home can provide long-term health benefits beyond emotional support.

According to the study, which will be presented in April, elderly pet owners have a slower rate of cognitive decline than those without pets.

Insider quoted Antara, Sunday, February 27, revealed that researchers used data from the University of Michigan's Health and Retirement Study to compare the cognitive scores of pet owners and non-pet owners. The initial study involved several tests to evaluate memory and cognition over a six-year period.

They found that long-term pet owners were 1.2 points slower in cognitive decline than people without pets.

Over the six-year study period, participants were scored on a 27-point scale based on their cognitive abilities.

Anyone who showed signs of cognitive decline at the start of the study was not included in the final sample of 1,369 adults around age 65.

More than half of study participants reported owning a pet at the time of the survey and 32 percent had a pet for five years or more.

Previous studies have described the association between pet ownership and heart health benefits, such as lower resting heart rate and baseline blood pressure.

It's possible that owning a pet may protect against stress, though research hasn't proven a direct cause and effect.

"Because stress can negatively affect cognitive function, the potential stress-buffering effect of pet ownership could provide a plausible rationale for our findings," study author Tiffany Braley, a professor of neurology at the University of Michigan, said in a statement.