Boy hugging a goat on homestead. Photo: Elizabethsalleebauer (Getty)
Now we know why Old MacDonald lived to be so, well, old.
According to the Los Angeles Times, new research suggests that boys who grow up around animals will be stronger, healthier and more easygoing when they hit adulthood. Conversely, those who grew up in cities without pets won’t be as lucky.
The study was recently published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. It involved the recruitment of men under 40 with two very different childhoods. German researchers used only men who either spent the years before they turned 15 in a city of more than 100,000 people and had never had a pet in their childhood home or spent those years on a farm that raised livestock.
The result of their study suggests “growing up in sanitized urban environments is making many of us more fragile when it comes to warding off certain diseases.”
Researchers said their findings coincide with recent Danish research that suggested rates of autism, schizophrenia and bipolar disorder were higher among children who grew up in cities as well as other research that suggested depression, anxiety and mood disorders were more common in those living in cities.
More potentially upsetting news for the fellas: Study Says Women Have A Hell Of A Lot More Stamina Than Men
So, should you buy your son a pet if you live in the city? Science says it’s not a bad idea.
