Pet owners experience slower cognitive decline as they age: Study
Image represents an individual playing with his dog (Representative image)
As people grow older, they tend to experience gradual cognitive decline, even if there are no traces of dementia. But now, a study has shown that cognitive decline is slower in those individuals who own dogs and cats.
As per the study published in Scientific Reports, individuals who walk their pets are able to maintain good cognitive capabilities even as they age.
This comes as scientists across the world find ways and strategies to delay imminent cognitive decline amongst the elderly population, including treating sleep apnea, improving diet, increasing exercise and many others.
Data from 637 participants assessed
The study assessed data from 637 participants, spanning individuals aged 51 to 101 years, with a mean age of 75 years.
The research methodology involved systematic data collection at regular intervals, with a frequency of every four years for participants below 80 and an annual schedule for those aged 80 or older.
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During these data collection intervals, a battery of cognitive tests was administered to gauge participants' cognitive functions.
Results
The study made one thing very clear: Cognitive capabilities continued to decline among individuals as they age. But they noticed an anomaly. The decline was much slower in those who owned pets, in contrast to their non-pet-owning counterparts.
Moreover, when observing the outcomes, a clearer trend regarding slower cognitive decline was visible amongst cat and dog owners.
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Thosewho regularly walked their dogs experienced a further mitigation of cognitive decline compared to their counterparts who did not take their dogs out for a walk.
Remarkably, these trends still persisted after consideration of variables such as age and prevalent medical conditions, reinforcing the credibility of the findings.
“The current study provides important longitudinal evidence for the contribution of pet ownership to the maintenance of cognitive function in generally health community-residing older adults as they age,” the study authors concluded.
“Older adult pet owners experienced less decline in cognitive function as they aged, after considering both their pre-existing health and age. Memory, executive function, language function, psychomotor speed, and processing speed deteriorated less over ten years among pet owners than among non-owners and among dog owners than non-owners. Cat owners experienced less deterioration in memory and language function. Dog walking also was associated with slower deterioration in cognitive function,” they concluded.
(With inputs from agencies)