Having an animal at home has many virtues on our physical and mental state: better cardiovascular health, strengthening of the immune system and the intestinal microbiota, secretion of oxytocin (the hormone of happiness)… There are countless studies that demonstrate the physical, psychological and emotional benefits of this connection between humans and animals.
Tuesday evening at 8:50 p.m., on France 5, the program Enquête de santé will be dedicated to these animals that care for us. In the first part of the evening, a documentary directed by Stéphanie Rathscheck will evoke animal contact care practices that have been developing in France over the past forty. Dogs, cats, horses and certain farm animals are now teaming up with therapists to offer a new path in care. In retirement homes, the dog revives the desire to communicate in elderly people suffering from Alzheimer’s disease. For children with psychomotor disabilities, the horse facilitates functional rehabilitation.
Animals also have extraordinary powers that science uses to advance medicine. Thanks to their exceptional sense of smell, dogs today are able to detect cancers or alert their owners to the imminence of an epileptic attack.
This documentary will be followed by a debate moderated by Marina Carrère-d’Encausse.
Humans and pets: an exchange relationship
Care, feeding, education, games, cuddles… our companions trigger behavior in us that behavioral veterinarian Joël Dehasse considers “close to mothering”., noting that “the cat is similar in weight to a baby a few months old.” According to him, when we adopt an animal, our choice, even if we wish it reasoned, is very emotional. And if all they lack is speech, our animalswhich we know today to be endowed with complex thoughts, feelings and emotions, “speak” to us and know how to soften us, but also offer us affection, attention and even comfort or consolation, because they are real “sensors of our moods”. !
This “telepathy” is undoubtedly linked to the pheromones (volatile molecules) and odors that we release without knowing it in the event of physical or emotional change, and that our animals are able to capture incredibly better than us, because dogs and cats have around 200 million olfactory cells, 40 times more than humans! Moreover, and this is not their last asset, they make us laugh with their gestures, antics, manias and games. Much more than just company, these devotees bring us joy, support and tenderness, and are often an integral part of the family.
Purrs that heal
The cat’s purrs are soothing, analgesic, and trigger emotions that open the door to memories, like a Proust madeleine, according to “felinophile” veterinarian Jean-Yves Gauchet, who has been studying its beneficial effects for a long time. He even believes that these sound vibrations (whose physiological mechanism is not yet fully understood) improve health and help humans fall asleep, which he explains by the fact that they trigger a cascade of biochemical reactions.
Surprisingly, it has also been noticed that the sound frequencies of purrs are identical to those used in sports medicine to relieve muscle, joint or bone injuries. This could also explain why, with an equivalent injury, cats heal much faster than the dogs, their own purrs heal them! This is how the concept of “purring therapy” was born and Jean-Yves Gauchet even designed music accompanied by the sound vibrations of Rouky for those who do not have a pet.
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