A few minutes alone with a pet cat or dog might do more to help people's stress than talking about their troubles with their best friend or spouse, according to a new study.

In 2002, researchers examined the effects of the presence of friends, spouses and pets on the level of stress associated with certain relatively unpleasant tasks. They found that compared with human support, the presence of pets was associated with lower perceived and actual responses to stress.

For more information on this study please follow this link.

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