Dog Owners More Likely to Meet Physical Activity Guidelines

by | Nov 26, 2019 | 2019, Fitness and Exercise, Self-Care

Written by Jessica Patella, ND. Study finds that dog ownership is associated with more recreational walking and considerably greater odds of meeting physical activity guidelines.

pets mental healthPrevious research suggests that owning a dog is associated with lower risk of cardiovascular disease and death, in single-person households 1.  The U.S. recommendations are for adults to have at least 150 minutes (2 hours and 30 minutes) of moderate-intensity exercise per week 2, but this is achieved by less than 50% of U.S. adults 3.  Recent research found that dog ownership is associated with more walking and greater odds of meeting physical activity guidelines in the U.K. 4.

Previous research of activity levels in dog-owners has been limited to single-person households, potentially inflating the impact of dogs, due to the fact there is a single caregiver for the dog 4.  In contrast, this research looked at all households in a community, including looking at the activity of children in the home 4.  Also, all participants lived in the same community, so the access to walking areas was the same for all participants in the study 4.  This study was conducted in the U.K. and it is important to note that daily walking of dogs is the cultural norm in the UK, occurring for 78% of dogs, whereas in the U.S. only an estimated 57% of dogs are walked, due to owners reporting the dog self-exercised outside 4,5.

A total of 385 households participated (55.2% of the 1280 household area) in the study, with a total of 694 participants.  The results were as follows:

  • Dog owners were more likely than non-dog owners to report walking for recreation (OR=14.35, 95% CI= 5.77-35.79; P<0.001)
  • Recreational walkers that were also dog owners walked for longer periods than non-dog owners (RR=1.39, 95%CI=1.27-5.91; P<0.001).
  • Other physical activity, besides walking, did not differ between dog owners and non-dog owners.
  • Dog-owners were four-times more likely to reach the current physical activity guidelines of 150 minutes/week compared to non-dog owners (OR=1.40, 95%CI=2.05-8.19, P<0.001)
  • Children with dogs reported 285 more minutes of walking per week compared to those without dogs (P=0.01)
  • Children with dogs had 260 more minutes per week of unstructured free play compared to those without dogs (P<0.01)

In conclusion, this study shows that U.K. dog owning households are significantly more active than non-dog owning households 4.  The researchers hope the findings can be used to support dog-supportive environments for walking and pet-friendly housing to help improve public health 4.

Source: Westgarth, Carri, Robert M. Christley, Christopher Jewell, Alexander J. German, Lynne M. Boddy, and Hayley E. Christian. “Dog owners are more likely to meet physical activity guidelines than people without a dog: An investigation of the association between dog ownership and physical activity levels in a UK community.” Scientific reports 9, no. 1 (2019): 5704.

© The Author(s) 2019. This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/.

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Posted November 26, 2019.

Jessica Patella, ND, is a naturopathic physician specializing in nutrition and homeopathic medicine and offers a holistic approach to health.  She earned her ND from Southwest College of Naturopathic Medicine in Tempe, AZ, and is a member of the North Carolina Association of Naturopathic Physicians.  Visit her website at  www.awarenesswellness.com.

References:

  1. Mubanga M, Byberg L, Nowak C, et al. Dog ownership and the risk of cardiovascular disease and death–a nationwide cohort study. Scientific reports. 2017;7(1):15821.
  2. health.gov. Physical Activity Guidelines for Americans. 2015; https://health.gov/dietaryguidelines/2015/guidelines/appendix-1/. Accessed November 12, 2019.
  3. Blackwell DL, Lucas JW, Clarke TC. Summary health statistics for US adults: national health interview survey, 2012. Vital and health statistics Series 10, Data from the National Health Survey. 2014(260):1-161.
  4. Westgarth C, Christley RM, Jewell C, German AJ, Boddy LM, Christian HE. Dog owners are more likely to meet physical activity guidelines than people without a dog: An investigation of the association between dog ownership and physical activity levels in a UK community. Scientific reports. 2019;9(1):5704.
  5. Reeves MJ, Rafferty AP, Miller CE, Lyon-Callo SK. The impact of dog walking on leisure-time physical activity: results from a population-based survey of Michigan adults. Journal of Physical Activity and health. 2011;8(3):436-444.