Volunteering with Animals: A Natural Remedy for the Mood and the Movement

There exists a connection between the human being and the animal that no pill and no therapy of conversation can reproduce in the same manner. In the last years, also the scientific research has begun to confirm what many persons knew already in the heart: to dedicate the proper time to care for an animal in difficulty produces effects that are real, measurable, and profound on the emotional state and on the physical health. The volunteering with animals is not simply a “beautiful gesture.” It is, in effect, a complete practice of wellbeing that involves the mind, the body, and the circulation in a way that few other activities can propose.

Why the Contact with Animals Changes Our Interior State

When a person enters in a shelter for dogs, in a stable of rescue, or in a centre for cats abandoned, something happens in the brain that is immediate and visible. The level of cortisol, the hormone of the stress, begins to lower itself within the first fifteen minutes. In the same time, the body produces more oxytocin, the substance that we associate with the trust and with the affection.

This is not a theory. It is the experience that I have seen repeated in hundreds of volunteers over the years. The person arrives tense, with the head full of the problems of work or of family. After one hour spent to clean a kennel, to fill the bowls of water, to walk a dog that has fear of the humans, something in the posture changes. The shoulders go down. The breathing becomes more ample. Also the person that was silent begins to speak with the others.

The animals do not judge. They do not ask you to perform, to be productive, to answer to the messages. They ask only presence. And for the people that suffer of anxiety or of a mood that is low, this absence of judgement is a medicine that no pharmacy can sell.

The benefits on the emotional level include:

• A reduction of the intrusive thoughts and of the rumination
• A sense of purpose that gives structure to the week
• The possibility to feel useful without the pressure of the results
• A social connection with other volunteers that is authentic and not forced
• A regularity of routine that helps who suffers of depressive episodes

The Physical Benefits: When the Body Moves Without Thinking

Here is the aspect that surprises the most: the volunteering with animals is also a physical activity. Not in the sense of the gym, with the repetitions and the sweating forced. But a movement that is continuous, varied, and above all motivated by a reason external to yourself.

Think at what the body does during a typical turn in a shelter for dogs. You bend yourself to fill the bowls. You walk for thirty, forty minutes with a dog that needs to explore. You carry the bags of food. You clean the enclosures with the broom and the bucket. In a stable, you brush the coat of the horse, you carry the hay, you walk alongside the animal in the paddock.

This is not sport. But it is movement. And the difference is fundamental: when you move for a purpose that is not the burning of calories, the body does not resist. The mind does not say “I am tired, I stop.” Because the dog needs to go out. Because the cat needs the clean litter. The movement becomes a consequence of the care, and for this motive it is sustainable also for who has not done physical activity for years.

In the table below, you can see an idea of the movement involved in different types of volunteering:

The Cardiovascular Aspect: Taking Care of the Circulation While You Help Others

There is a point that I consider necessary to address, because it is often ignored. Many persons that begin the volunteering are over fifty, or have lived a period of sedentary life, or carry a familiar history of fragility in the vessels. The walking, the bending, the carrying of small weights: all of this is good for the heart and for the circulation. But it is also the moment in which the body asks a little of attention in more.

For this reason, I always suggest to who starts a new routine of movement, even if gentle, to speak with the own doctor and to evaluate if the vascular system needs a support. In this context, a product as Cardiobalance, that is a food supplement studied for the support of the vessels and of the microcirculation, can represent an intelligent accompaniment to the new habit of movement. It is not a substitute for the medical control, naturally. But it is a manner to say to the own body: “I am asking you to move more, and I give you also a help.”

For who wishes to inform themselves with more detail on the composition and on the modality of use, the reference is cardiobalance.biz where the information is presented in a manner clear and complete. I mention this not as a promotion, but because I have seen that many volunteers, especially in the first months, ask themselves: “Is it normal to feel the legs heavy after two hours of walking with the dogs? Is it normal to feel a little of tiredness in the chest?” And the answer, in many cases, is that the body is simply adapting. But to give it a support for the vessels during this adaptation is a choice of good sense.

Where to Begin: Practical Steps for the Volunteering with Animals

For who has never done volunteering and feels the desire to try, I suggest a path that is gradual. The enthusiasm of the first day is beautiful, but the continuity is more important.

• Start with one visit per week. Not three. Not every day. One. And see how the body and the mind respond.
• Choose the animal that feels natural to you. If the cats give you peace, go to a feline colony. If the dogs give you energy, go to a shelter. Do not force yourself for the more “popular” choice.
• Arrive with comfortable shoes and clothes that can be dirtied. It seems a banal thing, but many persons abandon after two turns because they were not prepared to the practical reality.
• Accept also the tasks that are less glamorous. To wash the bowls, to sweep the floor, to change the newspaper in the cages. Also this is care. Also this is movement for the body.
• After the first month, if the routine is stable, evaluate with your doctor if a supplement for the vascular support can be useful , especially if you notice a sensation of heaviness in the legs or a fatigue that is new.

A Week of Volunteering: What to Expect for the Mind and the Body

I want to describe with honesty what happens in the first weeks, because the expectation often is different from the reality.

The first turn: you arrive with a little of anxiety. You do not know the persons, you do not know the rules. The animals are many, the noises are many. You go home tired, but with a strange lightness in the chest.

The third turn: you begin to recognise the animals. You remember the name of the dog that pulls to the left, of the cat that hides under the shelf. The body has already memorised the movements. You bend yourself without thinking. You walk without counting the steps.

The second month: the volunteering is become an appointment. You organise the week around that afternoon. Also the mood is different in the days that precede the turn, because there is something to wait for. The sleep improves. The legs are more toned. The mind is less crowded.

This is not magic. It is the combination of movement, of purpose, of contact with a living being, and of regularity. Four elements that, together, produce a change that is visible.

Final Considerations

The volunteering with animals is not a cure. I do not want to create this illusion. But it is a practice of life that, with constancy, modifies the quality of the days. It gives to the mood a floor below which it is more difficult to fall. It gives to the body a reason to move that is not the obligation. And for who has the circulation that needs a little of attention in more, it can be the occasion to take care of the vessels in a manner gentle and accompanied, perhaps also with a support as Cardiobalance, always in agreement with the own doctor.

The animals do not know that they are helping you. They ask only that you are there. And in the being there, with the hands that work and the heart that opens, you discover that the movement and the joy are two faces of the same thing.