Health Benefits of Owning An Aquarium

  Posted on May 14, 2012  by Joy of Living  No comments

I love the calming effect of an aquarium!  Fish are the fourth most popular pet choice of Americans and as it turns out, studies have shown there are many healthy benefits to owning an aquarium.  Check this out:

• They help your relax. Numerous studies have shown that watching aquarium fish can make you feel calm, reduce anxiety and help lower blood pressure.  This is one reason doctors and dentist offices have aquariums.
• Aquariums can help calm hyperactive children. More studies indicate that because kids are curious, they want to watch the fish. The children feel calmer while, and after, watching fish.
• Help for Alzheimer patients.  A study conducted by Dr. Nancy Edwards and Dr. Alan Beck, both from Purdue University, studied the effects on Alzheimer’s patients’ appetite while they watched aquarium fish at meal times.  The study showed that those patients who had the live aquarium stayed at the dinner table longer and ate 21% to 27% more food than patients seeing a picture of fish or no fish tank.
• Aquariums have fairly low startup costs.  Aquariums, especially freshwater ones, don’t have a lot of expense to set up.  Once in place, you can tap into your creative side and add all kinds of color to make to more visually interesting.