Health
Veterans with PTSD get 'significant' benefits from service dogs, first NIH-funded study finds
This story discusses suicide. If you or someone you know is having thoughts of suicide, please contact the Suicide & Crisis Lifeline at 988 or 1-800-273-TALK (8255).
The positive impact of service dogs on the mental health of U.S. military veterans has been widely recognized.
Now, the first clinical trial funded by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) looked into exactly how pairing service dogs with PTSD-diagnosed veterans improves symptoms.
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As June marks PTSD Awareness Month, the University of Arizona College of Veterinary Medicine partnered with K9s For Warriors – the nation’s largest provider of trained service dogs, based in Florida – to study over 156 military veterans over three months, based on their self-reported symptoms and doctors’ assessments.
The largest nationwide survey of its kind analyzed service dog partnerships in 81 vets compared to those who received traditional care without a dog.
Marine Corps veteran Bill Lins, a sergeant from 2004 to 2016, is pictured here with his dog, Link. Lins suffered from PTSD and a traumatic brain injury after he left the service. (K9s for Warriors)
The study looked at each participant’s PTSD symptoms, including psychosocial functioning, quality of life and social health.
Veterans with service dogs were found to have a 66% lower chance of a PTSD diagnosis compared to a control group without dogs.
These respondents also experienced lower levels of anxiety and depression, as well as improvements in most areas of emotional and social well-being, the study found.
K9s for Warriors chief program officer Kevin Steele noted in a press release that service dogs are “life-saving and life-transforming” for veterans.
“Asking for help is a sign of strength,” Marine veteran Bill Lins, pictured with his dog, Link, told Fox News Digital. (K9s for Warriors)
“These dogs have enabled our warriors to better connect with family, friends and their community and to begin living the life they previously didn’t think was possible,” he said. “The results of this study further prove that what we do here at K9s works.”
Lead study author Dr. Maggie O’Haire of the University of Arizona College of Veterinary Medicine told Fox News Digital, “I think that service dogs have become increasingly popular for veterans, specifically for PTSD, and I think that for a while, we could support this based on anecdotes or emotional intuition.”
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She added, “But now that this practice is growing, we see the need for evidence on a scientific basis.”
O’Haire suggested that some clinicians feel “ill-equipped” to support this mode of therapy, which is why the evidence is so important.
The first clinical trial funded by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) looked into how pairing service dogs with PTSD-diagnosed veterans improves symptoms for those suffering from it. (iStock)
“We can increase effectiveness, reduce side effects, and make it better for both the person and the animal,” she said.
“And we do that through systematic collection of data on how it’s working.”
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The co-author mentioned that each veteran involved in the study had an “incredible story” of survival.
“It’s not uncommon for me to hear from a veteran, ‘I would not be alive if it were not for my service dog,’” she said.
“It’s not uncommon for me to hear from a veteran, ‘I would not be alive if it were not for my service dog.’”
“We know that veterans are struggling. They’re facing high rates of anxiety, depression and even suicide. And what we see is that, in addition to evidence-based care, they’re also seeking out service dogs.”
An estimated 23% of military members and veterans with post-9/11 service have PTSD, according to NIH research. Veterans are also more likely to die by suicide than non-veterans.
A veteran’s success story
Marine Corps veteran Bill Lins, a sergeant from 2004 to 2016, battled with mental health issues, suffering from PTSD and a traumatic brain injury after leaving the service.
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Lins, who is now a mental health therapist, sat on the advisory panel for the NIH service dog study. He told Fox News Digital he was once in the same dark place as many other veterans.
“I was a very absent parent,” he said. “I could force myself through the motions, but I was very detached.”
Bill Lins is pictured with Link in front of the U.S. Capitol building in Washington, D.C. Today a mental health therapist, Lins sat on the advisory panel for the NIH service dog study. (K9s for Warriors)
“I knew I loved my kids, but I couldn’t feel it – and that felt really wrong,” he went on.
“It felt really shameful. And that’s [what] highlighted that maybe something bigger was going on.”
Lins considered that having “no identity” after leaving the Marine Corps fed into some other bad habits, like drinking and taking unnecessary risks.
“I was dumped back out into the world to get a job and be a dad,” he said. “It was tough.”
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Lins’ wife ultimately filed for divorce. “I was kind of just floating and had no idea where to go,” he said.
When he saw another veteran friend with a service dog who had a “lightness” to him, Lins decided to apply for a companion of his own.
“I don’t know how they picked such a remarkably perfect animal to pair with me.”
The veteran eventually heard from K9s for Warriors, who placed him with his service dog, Link, in Aug. 2022.
“I don’t know how they picked such a remarkably perfect animal to pair with me,” he said.
“I took him to the pool, and I remember laughing, watching him run. And I thought, ‘I can’t remember the last time I really laughed.’”
Lins described Link, a 72-pound lab mix, as a “wonderfully mannered, remarkable animal.”
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“He wants nothing more than to make everyone around him happy,” Lins said. “That is his life’s mission.”
“He has done a 180 in my world, and my kids are all so thankful that he’s here,” he added. “My entire family loves him. He just hands out happiness and expects nothing in return.”
“He has done a 180 in my world,” said Bill Lins, pictured with his dog, Link. “My entire family loves him. He just hands out happiness and expects nothing in return.” (K9s for Warriors)
Having a service dog is a distraction from “the things that you worry about,” Lins said.
“The bond is so strong that I worry about him so much more than myself,” he said. “I get to stay present as opposed to [getting] lost in my own thoughts.”
For other veterans seeking help, Lins recommended having a service dog as a source of comfort when things get difficult.
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“He’s always there. He’s never judgmental,” he said. “I can have any emotion that I want. I can have nightmares and be upset. And there’s no shame around him. I don’t have to hide things.”
He added, “He intuitively wants to be there and take care of me the same way that I want to be there and take care of him.”
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A 78-year-old Oklahoma woman who was diagnosed with polio as a child and was the last American to rely on an iron lung to live has died.
Martha Lillard found out she had the once-feared disease when she was 5 years old, which left her paralyzed from the neck down, and required her to use the machine to help her breathe while she slept.
Lillard contracted COVID-19 twice during the pandemic, which left her in the machine nearly 24 hours a day.
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“They told her she wasn’t supposed to live past 20 years old,” her younger sister, Cindy McVey, told The Associated Press on Friday. “She had the enthusiasm and the drive to continue living and make the best of her life.”
Despite having polio, Lillard was able to go to school two hours a day as a child, and she had tutors the rest of the time. She also used an intercom phone system that allowed her to interact with her teachers and classmates from home.
Martha Lillard rests in her iron lung in Shawnee, Oklahoma. (Cindy McVey/AP Photo, File)
Lillard was even able to take road trips as a child because of a custom trailer that could accommodate the iron lung and her father making sure their hotels had wide enough doors for the machine.
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An iron lung is a negative-pressure ventilator that would help a patient with paralyzed lung muscles breathe.
A row of iron lungs is seen inside in a Los Angeles hospital in 1950. (Bettmann Archive)
The disease once caused thousands of cases of paralysis in children during outbreaks each year in the first part of the 20th century before a vaccine became available in 1955.
By 1979, polio was considered eliminated in the U.S.
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Later, Lillard was able to regain the use of her left arm and legs through therapy and was even able to drive for a time.
She lived independently for many years, even getting married earlier this year to a man from Egypt she corresponded with for two decades after he was able to obtain a visa.
A nurse prepares children for a polio vaccine shot as part of a citywide vaccine test on elementary school students. (Bettmann Archive)
“They were really soul mates,” McVey said. “He’s extremely brokenhearted.”
Lillard, who wrote poetry and volunteered with the Humane Society, according to her sister, had just 25% lung capacity before she was diagnosed with COVID.
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She died of chronic pulmonary failure and post-polio syndrome, according to her death certificate.
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Her sister added that it was related to the effects of long-haul COVID.
The Associated Press contributed reporting.
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Reducing your risk of cancer death may be as simple as taking brief breaks for physical activity throughout the day, according to a new observational study.
The study, led by researchers from the University of Glasgow studying the association between cancer and prolonged sedentary behavior, found that participants who regularly interrupted prolonged sitting with physical activity had a lower risk of cancer death.
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“This study adds to growing evidence that prolonged sedentary behavior is an independent health risk,” Dr. Georgia Spear, chief of breast imaging at Northwestern Medicine, told Fox News Digital.
“While it does not prove that sitting causes cancer, it suggests that long, uninterrupted periods of sitting are associated with a higher risk of cancer mortality,” Spear explained. “The findings reinforce existing public-health recommendations that regular movement throughout the day is an important component of cancer prevention.”
Prolonged sedentary periods are associated with increased risk of cancer death, researchers observed. (iStock)
The researchers monitored 91,292 volunteer participants in the U.K. who wore movement-tracking devices on their wrists for seven days to track their sedentary habits. The scientists followed the volunteers’ health outcomes over the course of about 12 years.
The researchers defined prolonged sedentary behavior as any bout that lasted “at least 30 minutes and during which at least 90% of the time was sedentary.”
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They defined interrupted sitting as sessions that lasted fewer than 30 minutes or were interrupted by brief periods of physical activity.
Each additional hour per day of prolonged sedentary behavior was associated with a 10% higher risk of cancer death, the researchers reported in their study, published by PLOS Medicine.
Light physical activity, including household chores, such as ironing, are associated with reduced cancer death risk. (iStock)
Replacing one hour of sitting each day with light activity was associated with a 12% lower risk of cancer death. Replacing 30 minutes with moderate activity was linked to an 8% lower risk, and replacing just five minutes with vigorous activity was associated with a 22% lower risk.
The researchers classified light physical activity as walking at a low speed and performing household chores, such as ironing a shirt or washing dishes.
These findings should be interpreted with caution, the researchers wrote, “because the study cannot prove causality.”
The volunteers may not represent the wider population, they noted, “and the activity monitor captured behavior only during a limited period without showing the context of sedentary behavior, such as work, television viewing or driving.”
Spear said that existing research has linked sedentary behavior to obesity, diabetes, cardiovascular disease and several cancers.
Breaking up periods of sitting or reclining with physical activity is key to reducing the risk of cancer death, researchers found. (iStock)
“What is notable here is the finding that how people sit appears to matter, not just the total amount,” she said. “Breaking up sitting with regular movement may provide measurable health benefits.”
According to Spear, other simple lifestyle strategies can be highly effective at reducing cancer-death risk.
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“Stand and move every 30 to 60 minutes, take short walking breaks, including after meals, use the stairs, walk during phone calls and incorporate light activity throughout the day,” she recommended.
“Combined with regular exercise, maintaining a healthy weight, limiting alcohol, not smoking and staying current with recommended cancer screening, these habits can help reduce the risk of breast cancer and other chronic diseases.”
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A simple lifestyle adjustment could potentially slow down the body’s biological aging process, according to new research.
The study, published in the journal Aging, investigated how a diet change and easy exercise regimen affected men between the ages of 50 and 74 over a three-month period.
Researchers designed a clinical trial involving 48 overweight men in Japan. Over a 12-week period, half of the participants followed a strictly structured wellness routine, while the other half maintained their usual habits.
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For the intervention group, the routine required consuming 100 grams of plain yogurt every day.
This group also received individualized dietary counseling that advised them to curb overeating, avoid excessive snacking and cut out sugary drinks.
A simple lifestyle adjustment could potentially slow down the body’s biological aging process, according to new research. (iStock)
They were also instructed to walk or use a stepper machine for roughly 30 minutes a day, at least three days each week.
To measure the impact of these changes, the scientists collected blood samples from all participants before and after the study, and also analyzed DNA for chemical changes that act as indicators of cellular age.
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Specifically, they used a measurement tool called DunedinPACE. Rather than assessing a person’s chronological age in years, this tool calculates the precise rate at which an individual’s body is currently aging.
The men who consumed the probiotic yogurt, adjusted their diets and exercised showed a statistically significant reduction in their pace of aging compared to the control group, the researchers said.
The anti-aging benefits cannot be attributed to any single component on its own due to the variety in the study, the researchers noted. (iStock)
On average, the speed of their biological aging slowed by approximately 2.2%. This reduction is roughly comparable to the slowing of biological aging observed in a previous two-year U.S. study, in which participants reduced their daily calorie intake by 25%.
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This reduction in aging speed happened independently of weight loss , meaning it did not directly correlate with changes in the participants’ body mass index or the exact number of exercise sessions they logged.
The researchers also recorded a noticeable improvement in a specific DNA marker that is linked to kidney function.
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Because this study combined three distinct factors — probiotics, diet and exercise — the authors concluded that the anti-aging benefits cannot be attributed to any single component. Instead, the slowed aging rate appears to be the result of a combined effect.
The reduction in aging speed happened independently of weight loss, the study found. (iStock)
The researchers also acknowledged clear limitations of the study, including its small sample size and short duration. Also, the participant pool was restricted to overweight men of a single nationality.
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More research is needed to determine whether these short-term biological shifts can translate into permanent, long-term health benefits, the study stated.
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