5 Healthy Habits You Can Learn From Your Dog

01.07.2021 | 3 min read

Believe it or not, dogs can teach you a thing or two about living a healthy lifestyle. Just look at how your dog behaves when you get home: they don’t want to lounge on the sofa, they want to immediately head outside to run, jump and use their muscles.

While you don’t want to mimic every canine behavior, here are five that might be worth copying so you—and your entire family—can live a happier, healthier life:

Exercise every day.

The most exciting part of a dog’s day is the daily walk. Hitting the pavement or frolicking in the bark-park is a part of their daily routine and it should be a part of yours too. According to National Academy of Sports Medicine, a 30-minute walk a day can improve decrease your risk of high blood sugar, remove body fat around the waist and lower high cholesterol and high blood pressure. One study found that dog owners, on average, walked 22 minutes more per day compared to people who don’t own dogs.

Keep an eye on portion sizes.

Lots of dogs eat portioned out meals because otherwise they would devour the entire bag of kibble. And it turns out this isn’t too different from how humans behave. According to the Mayo Clinic, portioning out your food is important because if you serve yourself too much food, you’re going to consume a lot more of it. If you hate the idea of getting out the measuring cups all the time, switch to smaller dishes to force yourself to cut down on how much you dish out.

Only eat treats as a special occasion.

While we all deserve something sweet once in a while, indulging in treats every single day isn’t the best approach for a healthy lifestyle (for you, your kids or your dog). Keep candy and cookies out of sight and save them for the weekend as a reward.

Live in the moment.

Dogs don’t get stressed about something that happened yesterday or worried about what might happen tomorrow—they are fully in the present. Work on keeping your mind on your current activity and you’ll feel happier and more relaxed.

Make sleep a priority.

When a dog is tired, it sleeps. And it doesn’t wake up until it’s had enough rest. While you have a lot more on our plates than a dog does, you still need to focus on getting enough sleep. Sleep is essential for health, including:

Supports your immune system.
Improves your mood and decreases stress.
Improves memory.
Improves cellular growth.
Repairs tissue and improves muscle recovery.
Increases productivity.

Making sleep a priority is important for your kids too: According to the National Sleep Foundation, kids age three to five need at least 10 to 13 hours a sleep.

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Photo credit: DGL Images