Seniors living alone may help their cognitive health by having a pet to keep them company.
A recent study reveals that seniors living alone benefited from having a dog or cat to keep them occupied. The study involved more than 7,900 people with an average age of 66 and revealed that people who lived alone were able to fend off memory loss if they had a pet. However, this same effect was not found for seniors living with other people.
The study findings were published in the journal JAMA Network Open. Researchers collected data on people aged 50 or over and the participants had their lifestyles and mental acuity documented between the years of 2010 and 2019. Women comprised 56% of the study subjects.
Verbal memory (ability to recall what's been said to them), verbal fluency and verbal cognition (mental processes that utilize the use of language) were all evaluated by the researchers.
Researchers determined that slower rates of decline in verbal memory, and fluency were associated with pet owners who lived alone but not amongst those living with others. Those seniors living alone with pets apparently had their mental decline completely negated by the fact that they had a pet. Loneliness is a risk factor for dementia and cognitive decline and pet ownership apparently helps to reduce loneliness.
While more research is needed, researchers believe that the simple addition of a pet to a senior living alone can help to slow their cognitive decline.
