There is plenty of research about how animals and pets affect our lives and our health. One CDC study says that having a pet can have positive effects on your blood pressure, your cholesterol and your triglyceride levels, can reduce feelings of loneliness, and can increase your reasons to exercise or socialize.

Here's an about.com article on how pets reduce stress:
http://stress.about.com/od/lowstresslife...

And here's a great piece on WebMD on Five Ways Pets Can Improve Your Health:

FRIDAY, Aug. 22 (HealthDay News) -- Suffering respiratory or ear infections in early childhood, having a dog in the house as a newborn, and even being raised in a large family all appear to increase the risk of snoring later in life, new research suggests.

The findings may seem incidental but, the study authors point out, snoring has been linked with an increased risk of cardiovascular disease, not to mention the obvious problems of sleep deprivation for those who snore and those who have to listen.

Did you see this story on CNN about dogs that can sniff out cancer? If not, take a look.

http://www.cnn.com/video/#/video/health/...

Do you buy it?