When it comes to taking care of yourself, good sleep is always at the top of the list. It’s the gift that keeps on giving. Good sleep shows up on your face, in your attitude, and best of all it shows up where you can’t see it: effectively healing our bodies from the inside out. But as an animal lover, are you doing yourself any favors by sharing your sleep space with your beloved furry companions? Are you doing them any favors, too? We decided to dig in a little deeper to help weigh the pros and cons of sleeping with our dogs.
Pro: Sleeping with your dog positively impacts your emotional well being
Simply being near your dog boosts the production of “happy hormones” like serotonin and dopamine, both of which can decrease loneliness, lower stress levels, and ease the effects of depression. Not to mention, sleeping with your dog promotes a sense of safety, security, coziness, and not just for humans—dogs also love to be next to their human companions and it reduces their anxiety to noise and reactions to weather or other external factors. Win-win.
The American Heart Association has ample research on the health benefits of owning animals, and it turns out, we owe a lot of our longevity to dogs. We’re also more likely to recover from a heart-related setback with our dogs by our side and this study found that simply touching your…
