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While the change in emotion is usually slight, in the pandemic the lack of access to therapy has left many people with less options and coping skills to deal with their chronic stress. If you already own an animal, this can be an easy and still effective way to manage chronic stress!

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How do participants’ heart rate and anxiety levels respond to interacting with animals?

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How do participants’ heart rate and anxiety levels respond to interacting with animals?

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How does anxiety disrupt neuroregulation, and how does interacting with animals biologically return the brain to its regulatory state? 

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How does anxiety disrupt neuroregulation, and how does interacting with animals biologically return the brain to its regulatory state? 

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Overall during the experiments, my heart rate dropped by an average of 1.035% after every session. My anxiety dropped by an average of 1.28% after every session. While the results showcase a very minor percentage change, the data I found does still line up with the general consensus about animal therapy: it is helpful to some degree and in large doses it could potentially be even more helpful. My small results could be due to me being too used to petting my cats or the time allotted for the experiment being too small.

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Chronic stress occurs when our amygdla is over active and keeps us in fight or flight mode. Animals take us out of that space by releasing oxytocin, which makes us feel love, and seratonin, which helps to regulate the nervous system. My study supports this evidence as the data showed my heart rate had slowed after 10 minutes with an animal, and my anxiety rating lowered. However, the  change was slight and some days it was nonexistent.

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For each trial, I set a timer for 10 minutes and sat down with one of my cats for that time, petting them and scratching them

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Before and after each trial I took my heart rate and ranked by anxiety on a 1-10 scale  

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The study was conducted on self, lasted for 5 days, with 2 trials done a day

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This therapy works due to the inherent biological bond that occurs between animals and humans (Blanco-Suarez, 2021)

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Animal interactions also lead to decreased heart rate, blood pressure, and secretion of stress hormones like cortisol  (Blanco-Suarez, 2021)

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Interacting with animals releases serotonin and oxytocin neurotransmitters (Dion, 2017). They carry signals up to our limbic system. (Neuro Transmissions, 2017). The signals transferred from the serotonin neurotransmitters help to regulate our nervous system and emotions, while the signals from oxytocin make us feel love towards the animals (Dion, 2017).

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Animal therapy allows those struggling with chronic stress or mental illnesses to interact with animals for mental health benefits (Blanco-Suarez, 2021)

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In neurological terms, Regulation is the way our bodies control our stress levels

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Chronic stress occurs when there is no threat but the stress response system and amygdala stay active  (Caldwell, 2021)

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After the threat passes, the central stress response system becomes less active and these vitals lower

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Our emotional responses are controlled by our limbic system (made of which contains the hippocampus, amygdala, hypothalamus, and thalamus.) (Neuro Transmissions, 2017). When threatened, our amygdala triggers our central stress response system (made of the hypothalamus, pituitary gland, and adrenal cortex). This system spikes our heart rate, blood pressure, and cortisol levels (Caldwell, 2021). These bodily changes are thought to be caused by the neurotransmitters epinephrine, and norepinephrine. Overall mood disruption can be attributed to serotonin, a neurotransmitter generally in charge of regulating sleep, mood, and other functions in the body. (Star, 2021). 