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For thousands of years, dogs have been human’s best friends across many cultures. The word “puppy” is thought to have been adapted from the French poupée, or doll. Folk stories were filled with dogs: the Africans spoke of Rukuba, the dog who brought us fire; the Welsh told the tale of the faithful hound Gelert, who saved a prince’s baby from a wolf. People took to including their dog in family portraits and in their wills. We have all heard, and many experienced, the deep silent connection with dogs, but why does it exist?
The Study
In the past few years, research has come to light showing how dogs have essentially “hacked” the human bonding system. This research, done by Takefumi Kikusui, an animal behaviorist at Azabu University in Sagamihara, Japan, shows that when our canine pals stare into our eyes, they activate the same hormonal response that bonds us to human infants. Kikusui’s lab studies oxytocin, a hormone that plays a role in maternal bonding, trust, and more. Previous studies have shown that when a mother stares into her baby’s eyes, the baby’s oxytocin levels rise, which causes the infant to stare back into its mother’s eyes, which causes the mother to release more oxytocin, and so on. This feedback loop seems to create a strong emotional bond between mother and child during the early part of their life.
In Kikusui’s study, dogs were put in a room with their owners. The researchers tracked their interaction over 30 minutes and measured oxytocin levels through urine samples. People whose dogs had the most eye contact with them registered the largest increases in oxytocin levels. The dogs also had an oxytocin spike correlating to the spike of their owner. Of the duos that had spent the greatest amount of time looking into each other’s eyes, both male and female dogs experienced a 130% rise in oxytocin levels, and both male and female owners a 300% increase.The researchers conducted a similar experiment with wolves, close relatives of dogs, to see if there were any similarities but found that no increase in oxytocin occurred, despite the fact that the wolves had been raised by people. In an additional experiment with only dogs, the team repeated the same essential procedure, except this time they gave the dogs a nasal spray of oxytocin before they interacted with their owners. Female dogs given the nasal spray spent 150% more time gazing into the eyes of their owners, who in turn saw a 300% spike in their oxytocin levels. No effect was seen in male dogs or in dogs given a placebo nasal spray.
The Results
The results suggest that human-dog interactions elicit the same type of oxytocin positive feedback loop as seen between mothers and their infants, and that may explain why we feel so close to our dogs, and vice versa. Kikusui says the nasal spray may have affected only female dogs because oxytocin plays a greater role in female reproduction.We recently sat down with the wonderful Dr. Robin Downing to discuss a study she led looking into the benefits of using HempMy Pet’s full-spectrum hemp to manage pain in osteoarthritic dogs. She shares her thoughts on the bond between humans and their dogs, stating that, “when dogs feel better, their owner feels better, and when the owner feels better, the dog feels better because we know there is an emotional bond that is very reciprocal… Utilizing a tool like full-spectrum CBD to relieve pain and to improve comfort and quality of life ultimately contributes to a real strengthening of the human-animal bond.”
When you have a chance, check out the study linked above to learn more, but not before you take a moment to stare into your best friend’s eyes and enjoy an oxytocin boost you both will benefit from.
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In the animal rights movement, cruelty–free is a label for products or activities that do not harm or kill animals anywhere in the world. Products tested on animals are not considered cruelty–free, since these tests are often painful and cause the suffering and death of millions of animals every year.
Getting vegetarianism confused with veganism is a common mistake most people make. So today we are going to closely examine the definition of vegan versus the definition of a vegetarian in this post. Hopefully, this provides a little clarity.
The Oxford dictionary definition of a vegetarian is “a person who does not eat meat or does not believe in eating meat, fish, fowl, or in some cases, any food derived from animals, as eggs or cheese, but subsists on vegetables, fruits, nuts, grain etc.”
This basically divides vegetarians into two groups; vegetarians who exclude eggs and dairy and vegetarians who include these items in their diets. The latter can then be broken up into a further three groups; ovo- vegetarians (who consume eggs but not milk), lacto-vegetarians (who consume milk but not eggs) and ovo-lacto vegetarians who consume both milk and eggs.
There’s often controversy surrounding “semi-vegetarians”, whose diet consists mainly of vegetarian foods but includes fish or poultry. The main differentiating factor between all of the above-mentioned groups is how much animal products are included in the diet.
The above difference is the main distinguishing factor between the definition of vegan and that of a vegetarian because vegans exclude animal products in their entirety. The official definition of veganism is “the practice of abstaining from the use of animal products, particularly in a diet. As well as following an associated philosophy that rejects the commodity status of sentient animals.
A follower of veganism is known as a vegan”. That means veganism extends beyond the diet of a vegan individual. That is the biggest difference between vegans and vegetarians. While vegetarians may not consume animal products, they may use them if they are present in other products, such as items containing silk, honey or leather.
Vegans, on the other hand, avoid the use of animal products in all areas of their lifestyles.
Cannabis strains including Hemp and Marijuana are either pure or hybrid of the plant genus Cannabis, which encompasses the species Sativa, Indica, and Ruderalis.
Varieties are developed to intensify specific characteristics of the plant, or to differentiate the strain for the purposes of marketing or to make it more effective as a natural supplement. Variety names are typically chosen by their growers, and often reflect properties of the plant such as taste, color, smell, or the origin of the variety. These varieties have been cultivated to contain a high percentage of cannabinoids, including CBD, CBG, CBC and more. Several varieties of Cannabis, known as Hemp, have a very low THC content, and are instead grown for their fiber, seed and therapeutic propertiess
CBD has become quite popular over the last couple of years but despite what you might think it is only one of the 100 compounds that have been identified in the Cannabis Sativa L plant. Full-spectrum CBD oil, unlike CBD isolate products, includes a wide range of cannabinoids present in the cannabis or hemp plant. Depending on the condition and what you are looking to achieve it can provide a greater effect than CBD alone as all the cannabinoids work together in what is known as the entourage effect.
Full-spectrum CBD also contains a variety of essential vitamins, minerals, fatty acids, protein, chlorophyll, terpenes, flavonoids, and fiber. When referring to CBD in the hemp plant, it’s important to understand that Hemp contains a large number of cannabinoids (in trace amounts), but the main compounds are CBD and cannabidiolic acid (CBDa). As CBDa is more abundant in the hemp plant, firms must decarboxylate the oil. This process heats the oil and changes CBDa into CBD.
Just one last thing before we explain the benefits of Full Spectrum CBD oil, its important to understand that CBD from Cannabis is only legal in Medical or recreational states, while CBD hemp oil is legal in all 50 states under the 2014 US Farm Bill. While it may not be able to treat all conditions it has been known to assist with a variety of medical conditions including anxiety, depression and acute pain.
The Benefits of the Whole Plant
One of the most important studies relating to full-spectrum CBD oil took place at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem’s Hadassah School in 2015. It compared the performance of a full spectrum extract with one that contained CBD only. The study concluded that full spectrum was more effective when fighting pain and inflammation.
While CBD only is somewhat effective, the whole plant extract not only provided faster and better relief, the effects also lasted longer. This is why an increasing number of companies in the CBD industry are selling full-spectrum CBD oil as a rule.
The aforementioned entourage effect is the main reason behind the efficacy of whole plant extracts. There are over 100 ‘identified’ compounds in the cannabis plant. While most of these compounds have their own therapeutic benefit, they come together in a synergistic way to provide far better performance than any single compound, including CBD.