Can Animals Improve an Athlete's Performance?

The 2024 Summer Olympics are scheduled to begin in Paris on July 26. In preparation for the games, the athletes training at the Olympic trials had a particular request—dogs. Emily Klueh, the manager of the swim team's mental health and emotional wellness, stated, “So many people find animals as a calming essence.” She said that athletes are looking for environments to escape the hype and anxiety that come with the high stress of elite competition. The USA swim team partnered with Paws and Think, Inc., a nonprofit that connects people with therapy dogs. Therapy dogs were available to the athletes in their lounges daily during the trials. They are there to comfort the competitors, hoping to make the Olympic team. What does the research show about how animals reduce stress in a highly charged environment?

A 2019 study investigated whether interacting with a dog positively affects college students' mood and anxiety. Students were assigned to either watch videos of a dog or directly interact with one. Several measures were collected before and after exposure to evaluate mood and anxiety levels. The results indicated that participants in both situations experienced a reduction in their anxiety and an improvement in their mood over time. However, those who had direct contact with the dogs experienced a more significant decline in anxiety and improved their mood, offering a promising outlook for the potential benefits of dog interaction. Before the COVID-19 pandemic, Kent State University had a unique program called Dogs on Campus. This idea spread to other universities, including Tufts, which held its Tufts Paws for People event and turned out 200 interested students.

Research shows that interaction with dogs increases blood oxytocin levels and decreases cortisol levels. Both actions reduce anxiety and blood pressure, providing crucial insights into the potential benefits of animal interaction in high-stress environments.

A study published in Hypertension reported the effects on patients with stress-related high blood pressure who owned a pet in addition to taking blood pressure medicine versus taking medicine alone. Their findings strongly supported the fact that the addition of pet ownership had a more dramatic effect on participants' blood pressure readings than merely taking medication alone. The researchers hypothesized that having a pet is an adaptive social support that buffers an individual’s response to stress. When queried at the end of the study, one participant said, “Having this pet makes me better able to see what is important and to put things into perspective.”

A 2022 article published in the Journal of the American Heart Association stated that 95% of pet owners rely upon their pets for stress relief. The article also cited the Wakefield Research for the American Heart Association's Healthy Bond for Life initiative, in which 70% of pet owners surveyed stated they prefer spending time with their cat or dog to relieve stress over other activities such as television viewing. Their findings suggested that a pet could be the “secret weapon” to improve work productivity if workers could have their pet on-site or allow them to work remotely in their pet’s company. Given all this data, what can we conclude about the effect of pets on elite athletes?

Athletes constantly strive to improve their performance with new and innovative techniques. Even the slightest edge is taken seriously, particularly in the elite group such as Olympians. Many stress-reducing techniques by sports psychologists include teaching breathing exercises and encouraging mindfulness. Human-animal interactions have been shown to reduce stress in many situations, including nursing homes with dementia patients, therapy sessions with children on the autism spectrum, and even on-site animals in dentist offices. Even passive interactions, such as watching a fish in an aquarium, can reduce blood pressure in adult patients. Ever wonder why some medical offices have fish tanks in their waiting rooms?

Using human-animal interactions before a sporting event could enhance athletic performance. Physiological markers such as heart rate, oxygen uptake, and energy use have a linear relationship. This means more oxygen is used when the heart rate increases and more significant energy is expended. This could lead to earlier exhaustion in the athlete and worse performance. Similarly, stress before an athletic competition causes cortisol levels to rise—performance declines if it rises too high or too quickly.

Interacting with animals even briefly can raise the brain’s level of oxytocin, an antianxiety hormone. Regarding sports research, oxytocin improves communication between athletes, teammates, or competitors. This is beneficial so the athlete can better read teammates and competitors, thus improving team coordination and allowing for a better understanding of the competitor’s movements.

It is well known that interacting with a friendly animal reduces overall anxiety. Performance anxiety is a common problem for elite athletes that can negatively affect their performance. The current Olympic squad has members who love their dogs, cats, turtles, and even a tarantula. For now, however, the USA Olympians will leave their “best friends” behind in America to cheer them on. Perhaps with future supportive research about the benefits of pet interaction and athletic performance, their four-legged buddies can join them on their exciting adventure.