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By: The opinion Posted Mar 17, 2023, 22:03 pm EDT
Pets can offer many benefits to their owners, but a recent study found that Having dogs and cats in the house is associated with sleep disorders.
A new study published in the CABI journal Human-Animal Interactions reveals that your lovely petA dog or a cat, can make you have restless nights than those who enjoy long periods of peaceful sleep.
The research, led by Dr. Lauren Wisnieski, from Lincoln Memorial University (USA), focused specifically on the pet ownership in the usa. and was based on data from the National Health and Nutrition Survey (NHANES) conducted in 2005-2006.
The study found that Owning a dog was associated with a higher chance of having a sleep disorder and have trouble sleeping, while Owning a cat was associated with a higher chance of leg twitching.
Although the causal nature of pet ownership on sleep quality and sleep disturbance could not be established, study results are consistent with previous studies who found that pet ownership has a negative impact on sleep quality.
“Previous studies on the relationship between pet ownership and sleep quality and sleep disturbance have yielded mixed results. On the one hand, dogs and cats can be beneficial for the quality of their owner’s sleeps because of the social support they provide: pets offer a sense of security and companionship that can improve levels of anxiety, stress and depression. However, on the other hand, pets can disturb the sleep of their owners”said Dr. Wisnieski, Assistant Professor of Public Health and Research and Affiliation.
As the author explained, the cross-sectional study aimed to determine if there is a association between dog and cat ownership and sleep quality and sleep disorders -including consideration of issues such as snoring, waking up during the night, the need for sleeping pills, and leg jerking
The research built multivariable logistic regression models which also included sleep quality factors such as feeling sleep deprived, feeling drowsy, not getting enough sleep, taking more than 15 minutes to fall asleep, and sleeping less than six hours on average.
differences between dogs and cats
More specifically, the study authors found that having a dog was associated with a higher chance of having a sleep disorder and trouble sleeping. For his part, Owning a cat was linked to a higher likelihood of leg twitchingyes
Dr. Wisnieski suggests that the differences in the association between sleep quality and cat and dog ownership it may be because cats tend to be more active at night.
In addition, he discovered that there fewer differences in sleep quality indicators between cat owners and those who were not, compared to dog owners and those who were not.
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