50 Funny Memes To Remind You How Awesome Cats Are

As a former cat owner, I always thought that the main benefits of owning a cat are mostly aesthetic and maybe somewhat psychological. There's a cute critter running around your house, purring in your ear while you relax, helping you to unwind after a hard day. However, there might be more benefits to owning a cat than I realized.

One is that they might help us feel younger for longer. A recent study found that owning a cat or a dog helps slow cognitive decline and preserves our brain functions as we age. Cat owners specifically were found to show a slower decline in verbal fluency. Researchers aren't sure what exactly causes this, but they speculate that interacting with a cat or a dog provides cognitive stimulation, especially when socializing with them.

Previous research has already shown that when we interact with cats, our prefrontal cortex and the inferior frontal gyrus (IFG) are activated. We use our prefrontal cortex for memory, decision-making, problem-solving, planning, and even emotional regulation. The IFG processes language, empathy, cognitive control, perception, and unconscious processing.

Interactions with cats train these parts of the brain, resulting in them declining more slowly as we get older. It might even help prevent diseases like dementia. Researcher Adriana Rostekova, a co-author of the recent study, says that the socialization aspect of owning a cat can even be a substitute for a friend group. 

"There is [a possibility] of increased social stimulation facilitated by cats and dogs, which may be linked to the slower cognitive decline experienced by their owners: an increased frequency of social interactions when accompanied by a dog – or for cats, a substitute for a social network."

Rostokova and colleagues conclude in their study that pet ownership, or even interactions with cats and dogs, can be beneficial for older adults and should be included in policies on healthy aging. According to them, older adults should receive financial assistance for veterinary care and pet insurance, or even get animal-friendly senior housing.