Dogs truly are man's best friend!
A recent study found that petting another person's dog, even for a brief moment, can improve a person's health sometimes for months at a time!
Nancy Gee, a professor of psychiatry and director of the Center for Human-Animal Interaction at Virginia Commonwealth University, says that that levels of cortisol, the stress hormone in humans, drop in people after just 5 to 20 minutes spent interacting with dogs.
Gee also says humans experience "increases in oxytocin, that feel-good kind of bonding hormone," adding "it is safe to say that animals are beneficial to our mental and physical health."
Per Entrepeneur.com, the health benefits actually go both ways!
Gee says dogs' oxytocin levels also increase when they interact with a human!
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