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What if there was a simple way to reduce stress, prolong and
improve the quality of your life, banish the blues, and best of
all, decrease the number of doctor visits?

There is! Get a dog. Here are nine ways that having a dog can
boost your health.

Improved heart health. Dog owners have lower blood pressure,
cholesterol and triglycerides than non pet-owners. All these
reduce the risk of cardiovascular disease.

Recuperate from illness faster. Seniors in hospitals respond
better to treatment and recover more quickly when they have
contact with a dog or therapy animal.

Increased chance of surviving heart disease. A clinical research
project of heart-disease patients showed that having a dog was
the strongest social predictor of survival, even compared to
having family and friends.

Longer life expectancy after a heart attack. The presence of a
dog improved survival rate even more than having a spouse or
close friend. One study showed that men who had a dog were six
times more likely to be alive one year after a heart attack than
men without a dog.

Reduced stress. Just sitting and petting a dog reduces your
heart rate, and therefore stress level.

Regular exercise. It goes without saying that dogs need to be
walked, but did you know that even seniors who don’t walk their
dogs are more active than seniors without dogs?

They don’t call dogs man’s best friend for nothing. Ninety-five
percent of senior dog owners talk to their dog. Over three
quarters report that their dogs help when they feel sad. Almost
that many say that their dogs help when they feel physically
bad. In general, seniors with dogs are better able to tolerate
social isolation that seniors without dogs.

Fewer doctor visits. A study of a thousand Medicare patients
showed that seniors with dogs had nearly ten percent fewer
doctor visits compared to seniors without dogs. Other studies
put his figure over twenty percent, a strong reflection of the
health benefits of having a dog. Improved well-being.
Alzheimer’s patients have fewer anxiety attacks and fewer mood
disorders when allowed to have a dog nearby. Dog owners report
fewer headaches, fewer bouts of indigestion and less difficulty
sleeping. Studies show that elderly people caring for a dog
improve their overall health compared to their peers living
without animals in the home.

Need one more reason? Be a lifesaver. Adopting a dog from a
shelter saves a dog’s life, too. Senior dogs are too often
passed over at shelters for younger dogs or puppies with a
longer life expectancy and more energy. But senior dogs have a
lot to offer. They are often already housebroken and trained,
they are not as active as younger dogs, and they are generally
more interested in companionship than a run in the park.

Many shelters have adoption programs to match senior pets with
senior people. They will help you choose a suitable dog and
often provide ongoing support–sometimes at reduced or no cost.

Having a dog may not be the answer for everyone, but if you’re
interested, call your local shelter to find out more. There may
be a Rover, a Spot, or a Freckles ready to give you a whole new
leash on life!

How to Meditate with Your Dog: An Introduction to Meditation for
Dog Lovers presents a non-dogmatic approach to meditation. To
fetch a free chapter from the book and the introduction from the
audiobook go to http://www.DogMeditation.com.

Neon tetras are one of the most popular community fish and an excellent choice for those new to fish keeping. Their purchase size is often under of an inch and at full size, they reach a big 2 inches in length. If you like color in your aquarium fish, the Neon tetra will add real sparkle and flash to your aquarium. A silver fish that darkens to iridescent blue along its backbone, the neon tetra also sports a bright red tail. In addition, these active little fish like to school in groups of 6 or more, so a tank of neon tetras continually flashes with red, silver-white, and blue!

Although in the same family as the Piranha, neon tetras are completely unaggressive fish and if kept with more aggressive types are more apt to become prey than predator. The main diet of neon tetras is tropical flake food with tubifex worms, bloodworms, or brine shrimp introduced as an occasional treat.

Maybe because of their size, neon tetras do like an aquarium that provides them with lots of places to hide. This makes them wonderful fish to keep in a live plant aquarium. In addition, a dark substrate is closer to their natural surroundings. Other good hiding places for neon tetras can include pieces of driftwood or fish caves. Tetras in general also like highly oxygenated acidic water, so another accessory you should consider is a good aeration system.

One major problem with the neon tetra is its susceptibility to neon tetra disease. When you buy your fish, inspect them closely for any signs of disease or weakness. Physically a sick fish will be paler in color than the healthy ones, but an easy way to spot illness is when a neon prefers to be alone rather than joining in its school. Unfortunately, there is no cure for neon tetra disease. In its advanced stages, the fish becomes crippled. It loses use of its tail and its spine is noticeably curved. Neon tetra disease is a degenerative disease, believed to be caused by environmental factors. Because of this, it isn’t thought to be contagious, but it will keep affecting your school until you have rectified the conditions that cause it. Common causes of neon tetra disease include poor water conditions and harassment by other fish. Neon tetras are also very sensitive to loud noises and bright lights.

About the Author

Linda is editor of

Tetra Fish and Cichilds sections on aquarium-guides.com