Bringing Your Dog To Work Could Help To Lower Stress

The Huffington Post | By Amanda L. Chan

Here's a way to de-stress at work that we can get behind: Bring your dog to work!

New research from Virginia Commonwealth University showed that bringing dogs to work could lower stress and increase employee satisfaction. The study was published in the International Journal of Workplace Health Management.

"Pet presence may serve as a low-cost, wellness intervention readily available to many organizations and may enhance organizational satisfaction and perceptions of support," study researcher Randolph T. Barker, Ph.D., a professor of management at Virginia Commonwealth University, said in a statement. "Of course, it is important to have policies in place to ensure only friendly, clean and well-behaved pets are present in the workplace,” he said.

Researchers conducted their study on the employees of a manufacturing retail company called Replacements, Ltd., that allows employees to bring pets to work. There are about 550 people who work at the Greensboro, N.C. company.

The employees of the company were designated into three different categories: those with dogs, who brought them in to work during a workweek; those with dogs who did not bring them into work; and those who don't have a dog. All the employees filled out surveys and produced samples of their saliva to gauge levels of stress hormones.

In the mornings, all three groups' stress hormone levels were about the same. However, as the day went on, the people who brought their dogs in had lower levels of self-reported stress. Meanwhile, self-reported stress increased for the people who didn't bring in their dogs, and for those who don't have dogs.

The researchers also noted that the employees were making positive comments like "pets in the workplace can be a great bonus for employee morale … " and " "having dogs here is great stress relief."

USA Today reported in 2009 on a survey showing that 20 percent of companies are pet-friendly. Some include Urban Decay, in California, and Healthwise, a nonprofit based in Boise.

Mother Nature Network reported that Google, Ben and Jerry's and Build-A-Bear Workshop also are dog-friendly. And of course, HuffPost's LA office allows dogs to come in to work, too!
ace,” he said.

Researchers conducted their study on the employees of a manufacturing retail company called Replacements, Ltd., that allows employees to bring pets to work. There are about 550 people who work at the Greensboro, N.C. company.

The employees of the company were designated into three different categories: those with dogs, who brought them in to work during a workweek; those with dogs who did not bring them into work; and those who don't have a dog. All the employees filled out surveys and produced samples of their saliva to gauge levels of stress hormones.

In the mornings, all three groups' stress hormone levels were about the same. However, as the day went on, the people who brought their dogs in had lower levels of self-reported stress. Meanwhile, self-reported stress increased for the people who didn't bring in their dogs, and for those who don't have dogs.

The researchers also noted that the employees were making positive comments like "pets in the workplace can be a great bonus for employee morale … " and " "having dogs here is great stress relief.
USA Today reported in 2009 on a survey showing that 20 percent of companies are pet-friendly. Some include Urban Decay, in California, and Healthwise, a nonprofit based in Boise.

Mother Nature Network reported that Google, Ben and Jerry's and Build-A-Bear Workshop also are dog-friendly. And of course, HuffPost's LA office allows dogs to come in to work, too!

Weed Making Inroads Among Retirees

Tom Barlow, AOL

Although California has a huge population of residents carrying prescriptions for medical marijuana, the social stigma attached to the drug has led the elderly to be very hesitant about adopting it as a palliative for age-related problems such as loss of appetite, nausea and chronic pain.

Now a luxury retirement community in Orange County, Laguna Woods Village, whose residents have discovered pot's benefits, has made weed easier to obtain by establishing its own pot collective.

The community set up its collective because, although there are thousands of clinics in the state selling marijuana, none were convenient to the residents, some of whom have very limited mobility.

For the greatest generation, taught to believe that marijuana was as addictive and deadly as drugs such as heroin, the reality has come as a pleasant surprise to many. NPR reports on the epiphany of a 73-year-old Leisure World resident and synchronized swimmer who found it effective in countering her nausea.

The fact that the retirees are receiving recommendations to try pot for their ills from their peers leads me to believe that the use of it on the West Coast has reached a critical mass. We could well see demand for legalization, at least for medical reasons, swell among the retiree community across the country.

As a boomer, I expect that when our generation retires, many may choose to pull out the E-Z wides, fire up a blunt, order a pizza, and crank up Dark Side of the Moon once again, and not just for medical reasons.

A national columnist (name escapes me) recently wrote a tongue-in-cheek column in which he offered to voluntarily give up his driver's license on his 80th birthday in return for the right to all the drugs he wants.

Medical or recreational, is there a good reason why those who have worked a lifetime should be denied the opportunity to spend their golden years in a haze if they so choose?

Old people, what are you gonna do with them?