A pet can be a life-saving prescription for seniors. Not just because they're great companions, but for fitness reasons too.
A new study at Johns Hopkins shows seniors who walked their dog three or more times a week were more likely to meet the exercise goal of walking 150 minutes per week set by the US surgeon general.
The senior dog walkers also had a quicker pace than those who didn't have a dog, or those who didn't walk their dog regularly. Also, researchers say three years after the study started those who walked their dog were still walking while those without a dog were more likely to stop. The study looked at 2,533 seniors, 394 of which had a dog.
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