This Is What 10 Minutes of Petting Your Dog Does to Your Brain, According to Science
Mark Zuckerberg has an adorable white mop named Beast. Google CEO Sundar Pichai’s Labradoodle Jeffree is only slightly less fluffy. President Biden has bite-prone Major. Salesforce founder Marc Benioff’s golden retriever Koa actually held the honorary title of “chief love officer” at the company for years. Senator Elizabeth Warren’s hungry pup Bailey got internet famous for stealing a burrito.
The list of leaders with beloved pets is nearly endless. Maybe that’s because CEOs are humans and humans love furry companions. But maybe it’s also because those in high-stress roles intuited what recent research out of the Washington State University just proved — cuddling your pet is an incredibly effective stress buster.
This is your brain on pet cuddles.
The benefits of owning a dog are legion. Pets keep you active, they have been shown to help kids develop leadership skills, and their mere presence makes humans more kind and cooperative. And as most pet owners will tell you, cuddling your beloved fur baby certainly feels like it calms your nerves, leading the WSU researchers to ask, can that soothing effect be measured biologically?
