Petting a dog for ten minutes drops your cortisol more than looking at pictures of dogs or watching videos of dogs. A 2019 study put numbers on what dog owners have always suspected: the animal has to be in the room.
Patricia Pendry at Washington State University tested 249 students split into four groups: one touched dogs, one watched dogs being touched, one looked at dog photos, and one sat with nothing. Saliva samples showed that only the group who touched the dogs had a cortisol drop. It showed up within ten minutes.
It worked whether or not the student owned a dog. The bond was not the point. Steady contact with a warm body calmed the nerves, and the stress chemistry shifted. Photos did nothing, and videos did nothing. The body needed the real thing, warm fur and a beating heart under the hand.
A separate 2017 study from the University of British Columbia, published in Stress and Health, tested therapy dog visits on university campuses and found the same pattern. Students who interacted with a dog for even a short period showed reduced self-reported stress, increased happiness, and greater energy, and the effects lasted into the evening.
The cortisol data matters because it removes the possibility that people just feel better around dogs without anything changing in their body. Something changes. It changes within minutes, and the measurement comes from the saliva, in a tube, not on a form. https://t.co/6g1PkHPNoR
@ZiaYusufUK I got Β£50 that says you and Nigel set the reform friendly Daily Mail on Danny and his Mother. Simply because Danny stole Nigel's thunder on Saturday, thats why Nigel was so angry when he made his "disgusting " comments about the peaceful protesters.
Governments have rightly looked at how race, sex and disability affect peopleβs lives.
Itβs time we looked at the impact of class too.
When inequality of any kind holds people back and limits life chances, it's Labour's job to tackle it.
https://t.co/5YdXohIgGd
You know how I keep harping on the fact that people who don't live near mass/illegal immigrant enclaves sincerely don't understand why the rest of us are so angry?
This is what I mean.
Voting records show a huge portion of this town voted for a leftist political party, probably expecting what they're *actually* voting for would never affect them.
And now it is. And now they understand what their fellow countrymen have been screaming about.
If you vote for policies that don't directly affect you, but continue to flood others with migrants, you are a shitty person.
And when these policies DO inevitably affect you, it will probably be too late to see them walked back without a fight.
Living among fighting aged male third worlders is shit. It is shit for so, so many reasons. But it's extra shit when you know your own people voted to subject you to it.
What is happening to Piddington is still awful. It should be stopped. And they should fight it tooth and nail. But, I'm glad they're learning that elections have consequences.
One of our great anthems says we are a "Land of hope and glory" and "mother of the free."
That a child refugee can come here, lead a council and run for Parliament in a former Prime Ministers seat confirms than anthem to be true.
This is the story of Britain.
@DogsRedLipstick@ejames500@reformparty_uk Reform unfortunately are infested with BORISWAVE MPs who when in power ignore their promises.
Only Rupert Lowe pushed for the Rape Gang Inquiry.
You can read the witness reports of the brave victims and whistleblowers the Epstein state harassed here;
https://t.co/TJ7EivlWIk
Lady in Blue by Tschabalala Self, unveiled on Trafalgar Squareβs Fourth Plinth on September 10th.
The London mayor Sadiq Khan approved just over Β£1 million pounds to cover both this commission and the next one in 2028, plus Β£75,000 from Arts Council England and Β£250,000 in sponsorship.
Reports put the artistβs fee around Β£30,009 and production support up to Β£140,000.
London's Fourth Plinth in Trafalgar Square just got a new statue: "Lady in Blue" by New York artist Tschabalala Self.
Ten feet tall, bronze, painted in a blue pigment based on lapis lazuli.
It depicts an anonymous young metropolitan woman striding forward, meant to represent an "everywoman" rather than any monarch or military figure.
Self's own words: "She is not an idol to venerate or a historic figure to commemorate. She is an everyday person much like the many who occupy the square daily."
It's the 16th commission on the Fourth Plinth since 1998, chosen by an independent panel back in 2024 & will stand for two years before the next piece replaces it.
Reactions online are split hard, with some calling it a bold, overdue update to a square historically full of monarchs & generals while others are calling it an embarrassment that doesn't belong there. π
Trafalgar Square's newest addition has already become the next big thing everyone's arguing about today.