Letting Your Cat Sleep in Your Bed May Be Good for Your Health, According to a 10 Year Study
Sleeping with your cat may not be an ideal situation for some of us—after all, felines are nocturnal, meaning they might just wake you up at 3 a.m. for playtime, and they're also pretty stubborn. But, a 2008 study that's been making the rounds on the internet recently shows that sleeping with your kitty might actually be super beneficial to your mental and physical health.
You'll want to grab your cat and snuggle with it immediately (only if your grumpy cat is into that sort of thing, of course) because it turns out sleeping with our furry friends might just be making us healthier—and saving us from complicated heart problems in the future.
The University of Minnesota's Stroke Institute in Minneapolis conducted a 10 year-long study, presented in 2008—and brought to our attention via PureWow— documenting the health of 4,435 Americans between the ages of 30 and 75. Exactly 2,435 of the participants were current or former cat owners, and the remaining 2,000 participants studied had never owned a cat at all.
Over the 10 year period, researchers found that cat owners showed a 30% lower risk of death from heart attack compared to non cat owners—so if you currently don't own your own fluffball, now might be the time to get one!
Psychological stress and anxiety are related to cardiovascular events, such as heart attacks, and Dr. Adnan Qureshi—senior author of the study—said that owning a cat will most likely reduce your levels of stress and anxiety, which causes better heart health overall.
Now, it's time to get snuggling!
Follow House Beautiful on Instagram.
You Might Also Like
