J. Olaf Hdz Sánchez

Owning a pet is linked to a brain that looks up to 15 years younger. A University of Alabama study scanned 95 adults and found that pet owners had better memory, faster thinking, and bigger brain structures, especially dog owners. Fifty-six pet owners and 39 people without pets, aged 20 to 74, took thinking tests and got brain scans. Ian McDonough's team published the study in Frontiers in Aging Neuroscience in 2022. Pet owners thought faster, shifted their attention more easily, and remembered stories better. Their brains looked up to 15 years younger compared with typical scans for their age, and the effects were largest in dog owners. The researchers expected pets to help through better mood, social life, or physical health, but those things didn't explain the results. Older adults who owned more than one pet showed even more benefit than those with one or none. The researchers suspect each animal adds its own needs and habits to keep track of, which could give an aging brain extra daily work. With 95 people tested once, the study can't rule out that people with healthier brains are simply more likely to own pets. In this group, the pet owners had the younger-looking brains, and the dog owners stood out most. pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/3633…