Quality time with dogs can relieve stress, aid concentration, study says

NEW YORK, March 13 (UPI) -- Petting, walking and playing with a dog decreases stress and increases the power of brain waves associated with relaxation and concentration, a new study suggests.

Conducted by Konkuk University in Seoul, the study was published Wednesday in PLOS One online.

Animal-assisted interventions, such as canine therapy, are used widely in hospitals, schools and other places to help reduce anxiety, relieve stress and foster feelings of trust.

Research into the potential benefits of animal interactions often compares people's mood or physiological responses, such as blood pressure and hormone levels, before and after spending time with a service animal.

However, most studies don't differentiate between types of interactions, such as grooming, feeding or playing with an animal, which limits understanding of how each specific interaction affects health and well-being, the study's authors noted.

To better gauge how such animal-related activities influence mood, investigators recruited 30 adult participants in their 20s to 40s to each engage in eight activities with a 4-year-old female silver standard poodle, Aroma, or Aro for short, owned by the lead researcher.

"The dog was ready for this type of work, had a compatible personality, and was fully trained in basic obedience, manners, aggression and sociability as verified through its prior participation in numerous dog shows," the authors wrote in the study.

Animal-assisted activities with the dog consisted of meeting, play, feeding, massaging, grooming, photography, hugging and walking. Recruitment of participants occurred between May and June 2022 via notices posted in pet salons and at a dog beauty academy.

Participants wore electroencephalography electrodes to record electrical activity from the brain during interactions with the dog. They also recorded their subjective emotional state immediately after each activity. All the activities were completed in 60 minutes.

"The information received and processed by the body triggers diverse physiological responses, which are reflected in distinct brain wave patterns," the study's first author, Onyoo Yoo, a doctoral candidate in the Department of Bio and Healing Convergence at the Graduate School of Konkuk University, told UPI via email.

"EEG is a noninvasive technique that utilizes electrodes placed on the scalp to offer a precise and immediate reading of brain electrical activity," Yoo said.

The relative strength of alpha-band oscillations in the brain increased while participants played with and walked the dog, reflecting a state of relaxed wakefulness.

During grooming, gently massaging or playing with the dog, relative beta-band oscillation strength received a boost, a surge typically linked to heightened concentration.

Participants also reported feeling much less fatigued, depressed and stressed after all dog-related activities.

"This study demonstrated that specific dog activities could activate stronger relaxation, emotional stability, attention, concentration and creativity by facilitating increased brain activity," Yoo said. "In addition, interactions with dogs could decrease stress and induce positive emotional responses."

Some participants owned pets, while others didn't, but a fondness for animals likely motivated their willingness to participate in the experiment, potentially biasing the results, the authors acknowledged.

Even so, "the unique relationships between specific activities and their physiological effects could serve as a reference for programming targeted animal-assisted interventions in the future," Yoo said.

The study presents novel findings to better guide current animal-assisted interventions, Nisha Ver Halen, a psychologist in the Integrative Health and Wellbeing program at Weill Cornell Medicine in New York City, told UPI via email. She was not involved in the research.

"As a psychologist and dog-owner, it is plausible to me that these activities can produce a state of relaxation similar to that of quiet rest, prayer or meditation," said Ver Halen, who has a 1 1/2-year-old male mini goldendoodle named Banjo.

"I hope these findings encourage further research into the psychophysiological benefits of human-animal interaction," she said.

The vast majority of physiological animal-assisted intervention studies have looked at stress hormone levels and cardiac activity, Emma Grigg, a research associate in the School of Veterinary Medicine at the University of California-Davis, told UPI via email.

This study, however, focused on the mechanisms for potential benefits by measuring brain activity during human-dog interactions. The researchers also used self-report scales of stress and mood to assess participants' subjective responses to dog-human interactions, Grigg said.

"I like the goal of potentially identifying the types of benefits gained in the various types of activities, with an eye to informing best practices when using dogs in animal-assisted interventions," she said.

The findings also highlight that increased brain activity during human-dog interactions produces calming effects and enhances creativity, Lynn Grattan, a neuropsychologist and professor emerita at the University of Maryland School of Medicine in Baltimore, told UPI via email.

"This is a well-planned and executed study that confirms the role of dogs in helping with stress reduction using electrophysiological methods," Grattan said.

It is well known that alpha-band oscillations in the brain are associated with relaxed wakefulness, Kymberly Young, an associate professor of psychiatry at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, told UPI via email.

"This study provides scientific evidence for something dog owners intuitively know -- that engaging with our furry friends is an effective way to reduce stress and improve mood," Young said.

It was a difficult study to conduct, as the authors had to carefully standardize how each participant interacted with the dog. The rigor of their approach included evaluating participants' mood after each interaction, Andrew James, a professor of psychiatry and neurology at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences in Little Rock, told UPI via email.

"I'm intrigued that these brief human-dog interactions can significantly improve mood," James said, while noting that the improvements were modest, presumably because the participants had high mood scores before meeting the dog.

"Nonetheless," he added, "this work lays the groundwork for future studies seeking to quantify how animal-assisted activities may improve mood in people with major health issues, including people with mood disorders."