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A pet dog
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While research has suggested that pets can offer people health benefits, a new study from Finland finds that pet owners tend to be heavier, less active and in poorer health than those without a pet.
However, that doesn't mean pets are bad for us, the researchers note. Rather, people most likely to have a pet, such as middle-aged and home-owners, also tend to be moresedentaryand thicker around the middle.
Researchers at the University of Turku in Finland report the findings in PLoS ONE, an online journal published by the Public Library of Science.
A number of studies have suggested that certain people benefit from living with a dog or cat -- a pet may help lower blood pressure and heart rate, for example, or ease stress, loneliness and even dementia-related agitation in the elderly.
But whether pet owners as a group are a healthier lot has been unclear. The new findings suggest they're not.
Using survey data from more than 21,000 young to middle-aged Finnish adults, researchers found that pet owners were generally more likely to be overweight and to view their own health as poor.
This was largely because pet owners tended to be middle-aged, have less education and more health-risk factors, explained Dr. Leena K. Koivusilta, the study's lead author.
And despite having Fido to take for walks, even dog owners typically got little exercise.
This is likely because they were often home-owners who could simply put the dog in the yard, Koivusilta noted.
The fact that pet owners were in poorer health does not mean that furry companions aren't a health boon, she said.
"In my opinion," Koivusilta said, "pets provide us all with a vast potential for health promotion, and this has indeed been shown when some special groups have been studied."
Pet owners, according to the researchers, may just need to make more of an effort -- such as walking and playing with the dog instead of showing him the way to the yard.
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(Reuters)
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雖然有調查表明養寵物有益于身體健康，但芬蘭的一項最新研究發現，養寵物的人體重見漲、活動減少，而且健康狀況要比那些不養寵物的人差。
但研究人員指出，這并不是說明寵物對我們的健康有害，而是因為養寵物的人大多是中年人和有私房者。這些人習慣久坐，因此腰部變得越來越肥胖。
芬蘭土爾庫大學的研究人員將這一研究結果發表在科學公共圖書館出版的在線期刊PLoS ONE上。
之前的大量研究表明，養寵物的確能使一部分人的健康得到改善。比如，養寵物有助于降低血壓和心率，能夠緩解壓力、減輕孤獨感、甚至可以緩解老年癡呆癥所引起的焦慮。
但此前的研究并沒有弄清養寵物的人作為一個群體，是否比其他人更加健康的問題。目前的這項最新研究則對這一問題做出了否定的回答。
研究人員對芬蘭21000多名青年和中年人進行了調查，結果發現，養寵物的人體重超標的幾率較大，而且他們對于自己的健康狀況也不滿意。
研究報告的主要撰寫人麗娜·K·庫夫斯爾塔解釋說，這主要是因為養寵物的人大多是中年人，他們受到的教育較少，而且處在健康比較容易出問題的年齡段。
盡管養寵物的人會遛遛狗，但他們的運動量還是遠遠不夠。
庫夫斯爾塔說，這可能是因為這些人大多有自己的房子，他們只要把狗放在院子里就行了。
她說，養寵物的人健康狀況不佳并不能說明寵物對人的健康不利。
庫夫斯爾塔說：“在我看來，養寵物為我們提供了一個改善健康的大好機會，這一點已從對一些特殊人群的調查得到證明?！?/font>
研究人員說，寵物主人們應該加強鍛煉，比如，出門遛狗、和狗一起做游戲，而不是把狗放在院子里就萬事大吉了。
（英語點津姍姍編輯）
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