Playing With Dogs Relieves Stress In Humans And Canines Alike
By Dennis Thompson HealthDay Reporter
FRIDAY, March 14, 2025 -- Playing with a dog for just 15 minutes can significantly reduce a person’s stress, a new study reports.
Stressed students who interacted with a friendly dog reported less stress, had a reduced heart rate and had lower levels of the stress hormone cortisol in their saliva, researchers said in the journal PLOS One.
The experience also appears to be beneficial for dogs, researchers added. Fecal tests showed that canine cortisol levels were lower a week after hanging with a human.
“Even brief interactions with dogs can significantly reduce stress levels among university undergraduate students,” concluded the research team led by senior investigator Jaruwan Khonmee with Chiang Mai University in Thailand.
For the study, researchers recruited six friendly dogs 3 to 6 years old to interact with college students. They included five chihuahuas raised by veterinarians and a Shetland sheepdog raised by a psychologist.
None of the dogs were certified for therapy work, researchers noted. This was the first time they’d participated in any sort of canine-assisted intervention, and they participated without the presence of their owner.
In the main library of Chaing Mai University, 122 students completed a stress assessment questionnaire, had their blood pressure and pulse taken, and provided a saliva sample for cortisol testing.
They then were given 15 minutes to play with a dog after being told the pooch’s name, personality traits and preferred interactions.
The students could do whatever they wanted – look at the dog, pet it, give treats, hug it, play with it.
Afterward, they went through another round of tests to assess their stress levels.
The dogs provided fecal and saliva samples before and after their time with students, to see whether the play benefitted them as well.
Students showed self-reported and physical improvements in stress following their 15 minutes with a dog, results show.
“Compared to immediately before, students’ self-reported stress levels decreased by 33.5% after interacting with the dog,” researchers reported.
The students also had improvements in their pulse rate and cortisol levels, researchers noted.
There were no changes in salivary cortisol in the dogs on the day of play, but their fecal cortisol levels were lower a week after they spent time with the students, researchers said.
“Overall, these findings contribute to our understanding of the beneficial impact of human-dog interactions on human stress levels and highlight the importance of addressing stress in both humans and animals during targeted interventions,” researchers concluded.
“In contexts where certified dogs and handlers are not readily available, non-certified dogs could still offer mental health benefits,” the team added.
Sources
- PLOS One, March 12, 2025
Disclaimer: Statistical data in medical articles provide general trends and do not pertain to individuals. Individual factors can vary greatly. Always seek personalized medical advice for individual healthcare decisions.

© 2025 HealthDay. All rights reserved.
Posted March 2025
Read this next
Early Smartphone Access Harms Developing Minds, Study Warns
TUESDAY, June 22, 2025 — Care about your kid’s well being? Then best not give them a smartphone until they’re a full-fledged teenager, a major new study...
Few Schools Screen Students For Depression, Anxiety
TUESDAY, July 22, 2025 — Fewer than one-third of American public schools are screening students for psychological problems, years after the U.S. Surgeon General declared a...
Four-Day Work Week Benefits Workers, Employers, Study Says
TUESDAY, July 22, 2205 — A four-day work week can lead to happier and more productive, dedicated employees, a new global study found. Workers at companies that instituted a...
More news resources
- FDA Medwatch Drug Alerts
- Daily MedNews
- News for Health Professionals
- New Drug Approvals
- New Drug Applications
- Drug Shortages
- Clinical Trial Results
- Generic Drug Approvals
Subscribe to our newsletter
Whatever your topic of interest, subscribe to our newsletters to get the best of Drugs.com in your inbox.