Cats are known for many things. But is helping one’s mood something they are known for? They are now!
A team of researchers at Kyoto University questioned the idea that simply owning a cat provides intrinsic health benefits. Instead, they wondered whether any benefits or drawbacks of keeping a cat stem from the quality of the human-cat relationship, particularly how owners interact with their cats in everyday life.
Study
The team conducted a one-month study of the daily lives of 29 cats and their 19 owners. In each household, the researchers conducted hormonal analysis through urine samples, attached Small Bluetooth Low Energy — BLE — beacons to the cats’ collars to measure daily physical proximity, assessed the owners’ mood through questionnaires, and observed the cats’ behavior toward their owners and unfamiliar people.
The results revealed a hormonal connection between cats and their owners involving oxytocin and cortisol, hormones that are associated with social relationships and stress, respectively. The team observed a positive correlation in urinary oxytocin concentrations between cats and owners, with higher oxytocin levels in cats associated with lower cortisol levels and fewer negative feelings in their owners. In fact, the cats’ oxytocin levels were more closely associated with their owners’ negative mood states than the owners’ were.
Reasons
Ultimately, the researchers observed that owners’ positive mood states were not associated with how long they had had their cats, but rather with the overall physical proximity between owners and their cats. In other words, owners’ positive feelings seem most strongly associated with the amount of time they spend with their cats in everyday life.
In the future, the team hopes to explore more deeply how cats and humans influence each other through their everyday interactions.
Cats promote a sense of comfort and peace.
