A dog is better than a gym!

Do you want to be in great shape, stay healthy and have fun at the same time? Get a dog! According to research, dog owners get more exercise while walking with their pets than gym goers.

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Judge for yourself: even if a person actively walks the dog twice a day, and at the same time each walk lasts at least 24 minutes (which, of course, is very short for a dog), 5 hours 38 minutes “runs” in a week.

However, the average dog owner also provides the dog with a minimum of three longer walks per week, which adds an additional 2 hours and 33 minutes to the average.

By comparison, people who don’t own dogs only exercise an average of 1 hour and 20 minutes a week at the gym or for a run. But nearly half (47%) of people who don’t own pets don’t exercise at all.

At the same time, according to the feedback of the study participants, going to the gym is most often perceived as a “duty”, while walking with a dog is a pleasure. Plus, while gym goers are sweating indoors, dog owners are spending time outdoors enjoying nature.

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The study was conducted in the UK (Bob Martin, 2018), and involved 5000 people, including 3000 dog owners, 57% of whom listed walking their dog as their main form of physical activity. More than ¾ of dog owners said they would rather go for a walk with their pet than go to the gym.

78% of dog owners said that walking with a four-legged friend is always a pleasure, and only 22% admitted that sometimes walking a dog turns into a “duty”. At the same time, only 16% of the study participants said that they enjoy going to the gym, and 70% consider it a “compulsory duty”.

It also turned out that for 60% of dog owners, only having a pet is an excuse to go for a walk, and at the same time they will never give up this pleasure, even in the face of time constraints. At the same time, 46% of gym goers admitted that they often look for an excuse not to exercise.

And given that an active lifestyle has a positive effect on health, we can conclude that dogs make us healthier.

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The UK Department of Health has recommended 30 minutes of moderate-intensity exercise 3 to 5 times a week as a preventive measure for cardiovascular disease. And it seems that dogs not only save their owners from a heart attack, but at the same time help to combine business with pleasure.