Effect of dog-walking on autonomic nervous activity in senior citizens
Effect of dog-walking on autonomic nervous activity in senior citizens
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DOI：
10.5694/j.1326-5377.2006.tb00116.x
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发表时间：
2006-01-16
影响因子：
11.4
通讯作者：
Kennedy, NL
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
Motooka, M;Koike, H;Kennedy, NL
目的：比较健康老年人在有狗和没有狗的情况下散步时、在家中进行日常活动时以及在家中与狗互动时自主神经活动的变化。设计：对照交叉研究。参与者和设置：13名健康志愿者（3名男性，10名女性;平均年龄，67.5岁），他们在日本群马大学附近的公园散步，其中4名志愿者在自己家中接受监测。通过手掌大小的心电图监测器（有助于RR间期的频谱分析）连续监测心率变异性，同时参与者步行30分钟（首先与研究犬一起，然后不与研究犬一起，反之亦然）; 3名参与者连续3天接受该干预。四名参与者在自己家中连续监测6小时，包括两个30分钟的时间段与研究犬的自由互动。主要结果测量：心率变异性的高频（HF）功率值，这是副交感神经活动的测量。结果如下：在遛狗过程中，HF功率显著增加（P < 0.01）;这种增加在每次遛狗过程中持续，并且在随后的遛狗过程中更加明显。在家里，高频功率是1.87倍，当狗在场时，1.57倍（P < 0.01）比在步行experiment.Conclusions：散步狗有潜在的更大的健康益处作为缓冲对老年人的压力比步行没有狗;和，独立于实际行走，只是拍和说话的狗也提高副交感神经活动。心率变异性的功率谱分析显示，作为一种非侵入性的方法，以量化人类健康益处的临床生理学研究可能来自与伴侣动物的相互作用的承诺。
Objective: To compare changes in autonomic nervous activity in healthy senior individuals while walking with and without a dog, and during routine activities at home and periods of interacting with the dog at home.Design: Controlled crossover study.Participants and setting: 13 healthy volunteers (3 men, 10 women; mean age, 67.5 years) who walked in a park adjacent to Gunma University, Japan, and 4 volunteers among these who underwent monitoring in their own homes.Interventions: Heart rate variability was monitored continuously by means of a palmsized electrocardiographic monitor (which facilitated spectral analysis of the RR interval) while participants walked for 30 minutes (first with, then without, the study dog, or vice versa); three participants underwent this intervention on 3 consecutive days. Four participants underwent continuous monitoring for 6 hours in their own homes, including two 30-minute periods of free interaction with the study dog.Main outcome measures: High frequency (HF) power values of heart rate variability, which is a measure of parasympathetic neural activity. Results: During dog-walking, HF power increased significantly (P < 0.01); this increase was sustained throughout each dog walk, and was more pronounced during succeeding dog walks. At home, HF power was 1.87 times greater when the dog was present, and 1.57 times greater (P < 0.01) than in the walking experiment.Conclusions: Walking a dog has potentially greater health benefits as a buffer against stress in senior citizens than walking without a dog; and, independent of actually walking, merely patting and talking to a dog also raises parasympathetic neural activity. Power spectral analysis of heart rate variability shows promise as a non-invasive approach to quantifying clinicophysiological research on human health benefits possibly derived from interaction with companion animals.