New research suggests that one benefit of owning a dog is walking more than if you don’t own one. In a study published last week in the journal BMC Public Health, dog owners walked an average of 22 minutes more per day compared to people who don’t own a dog. Plus, the exercise was at a moderate pace, getting and keeping heart rates up.
Source: NPR, July 12, 2017.
The national physical activity guidelines call for 150 minutes a week of moderate-intensity exercise, and that’s what they got in this study,” says Sallis. In contrast, a CDC analysis has found that only about 50 percent of Americans get that much exercise every week.
INSIGHTS: This is yet another reason to encourage owners to properly exercise their dogs.