Dogs can make us happy, that's why many of us have one.
But besides being a source of companionship and joy, they can also help to reduce our stress levels and improve our ability to concentrate and be creative, a new study by researchers at Seoul's Konkuk University suggests.
Using electroencephalography (EEG), the researchers monitored the brain activity of 30 healthy adults while engaged in different activities with a dog, namely "meeting, playing, feeding, massaging, grooming, photographing, hugging, and walking."
They found that different types of interactions had different effects on the subjects.
Playing activites, dog massage and grooming resulted in significantly increased beta power spectra in the participants, "indicating improved concentration without stress," the researchers write in the study published in the PLOS One journal.
"Notably, playing with a dog positively affected both relaxation and concentration," they added.
Walking the dog also significantly improved relaxation, according to the alpha power spectra measured.
Meanwhile, feeding, massaging and hugging the animal was found to have an overall "positive effect on participants' moods."
The results show that "specific dog activities could activate stronger relaxation, emotional stability, attention, concentration, and creativity by facilitating increased brain activity," researchers Onyoo Yoo, YuTong Wu, Jin Soo Han and Sin-Ae Park write.