Photo of a woman in a black T-shirt and jeans (Klara Smedberg, SLU) running with a Kromfohrländer dog outdoors on a sunny summer day.
Photo: Lisa Chröisty, SLU

U can move – the interaction between humans, animals, and nature for a healthy population in motion

Page reviewed:  03/10/2025

Swedish dog owners have a lower risk of suffering from and/or dying of cardiovascular disease - and several factors associated with sharing your life with a dog appear to have a positive effect on human health. Which are those factors? And how can they be applied also to people living without dogs?

Approximately 15 percent of Sweden's population are dog owners. This group has been shown to have certain physical advantages—including a lower risk of dying from cardiovascular disease—compared to the rest of the population.

But why is that?

We don't really know yet—and that's something we hope to find out more about now! says Klara Smedberg, doctoral student in the “U can move” project at SLU.

So why are Swedish dog owners in better physical health – if it's not just because of exercise?

Therefore, the research group, including doctoral student Klara Smedberg, has now decided to investigate other possible answers to the question of why dog owners appear to be more protected against cardiovascular disease. Success factors for a healthy life, which hopefully could also be applied to other groups in the future—even those without dogs.

The project consists of three parts: two studies with exercise programs for dog owners and dogs, and a nationwide survey.

Collage with four images of a woman in jeans and a black T-shirt (Klara Smedberg, SLU) interacting outdoors with a Kromfohrländer dog.
Preliminary results from the survey show that dog owners feel less lonely than the general population – which also seems to apply to dog owners who live alone with only their dog. Photo: Lisa Chröisty, SLU

The survey was sent out in late 2023 and early 2024 to 2,000 dog owners, focusing on the health and lifestyle habits of Swedish dog owners in particular. The preliminary results are numerous and interesting.

Physically, it appears that dog owners in Sweden generally:

  • Have roughly the same BMI as the rest of the population
  • Have high blood pressure to roughly the same extent as the rest of the population

However

They appear to be in better mental health.

Reduced stress, fatigue, and loneliness

Dog owners in Sweden are generally less stressed, less tired, and feel less lonely than the average Swede.

There is talk of an epidemic of loneliness in the world, with the same increased risks as smoking and a sedentary lifestyle, for example, of developing dementia, cardiovascular disease, and other unpleasant conditions, says doctoral student Klara Smedberg.

In addition, it appears that dog owners:

  • Feel safer than average when outdoors, both with and without their dogs
  • Spend more time in nature...
  • .. and generally live closer to natural green areas

The results apply to both genders and also to dog owners who live in cities.

From the beginning, the project was launched to investigate how the human-dog relationship affects health and well-being, but now the parameter of environment has also come into the picture, says doctoral student Klara Smedberg.

As expected, the results also showed that dog owners were both more physically active and less sedentary than the general population. It also appears that they mainly exercise in natural green areas together with their dogs, which has previously been linked to both higher levels of physical activity and mental well-being.

Green spaces themselves could therefore also be an important piece of the puzzle for better exercise and mental health, the doctoral student continues.

Better body image – despite unchanged weight and BMI

In the first of two training programs, researchers had 22 dog owners and their dogs (a diverse mix of 17 different breeds) participate in an eight-week training program. The participants were initially asked to choose a target distance that they would be able to run with their dog after the program. Most chose one of the shorter distances, 2 km or 5 km, which indicates that they did not have any previous training experience.

Several of the results were interesting, but one stood out:

Dog owners' body acceptance increased, says doctoral student Klara Smedberg.

Measurements taken before and after the training program showed no difference in BMI or waist circumference among the dog owners, but despite this, more of them gained greater body acceptance without any change in their physical appearance.

In addition, a significant increase in quality of life was measured among the participants compared to before the training study.

Today's research – the path towards future residential areas where people feel good

In a way, it seems obvious that people who have access to nature, animals, exercise, and community feel better, doesn't it? But if this is to be used at the societal level, for example to influence urban planning and city design, “evidence” is needed—and that is what we can produce and contribute through our research. It's another small piece of the collective puzzle that can give us a better and more prosperous future.

Doctoral student Klara Smedberg is now halfway through the project, with another 2-3 years left as a doctoral student. In the fall of 2024, the training study is planned to be redone, but under slightly different criteria than the first round. All this is to achieve increasingly reliable results.

At the end of the project, I hope that we will have contributed to a little more evidence-based knowledge about how contact between humans, animals, and the environment can contribute to a more sustainable way of life and what kind of environment people need in their presence, she says and continues:
In the long term, this could mean that future residential areas are planned and built with well-being in mind, because we know more about the interaction between humans, animals, and nature. I hope to be able to make a small contribution to something good, she concludes.
Collage with three images of a woman in jeans and a black T-shirt (Klara Smedberg, SLU) outdoors with a Kromfohrländer dog.
Projects like this can be of great importance, not least for future social planning relating to housing, green spaces, and wilderness areas. Photo: Lisa Chröisty

Participate in the study with your dog - you too!

More information about the project can be found on the project page for “U can move!”. There you can also sign up for the more comprehensive follow-up to the training study “Up and Jump – Healthy with Dogs,” which is scheduled to start in late 2024. Would you like to participate with your dog? Contact doctoral student Klara Smedberg directly at klara.smedberg@slu.se.

Facts:

About this project:

  • Co-funded by Uppsala Diabetes Center (UDC), Agria Research Fund, SLU Future One Health, and SLU Urban Futures
  • Expected to run from summer 2022 to summer 2027, led by doctoral student Klara Smedberg. The “U can move!” project was launched in 2021, before the doctoral position was advertised.
  • The doctoral student in the project is Klara Smedberg, together with a research group consisting of:
    • Erika Roman, Principal supervisor and professor of domestic animal neurophysiology at the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences (SLU).
    • Anna Bergh, Professor of Rehabilitation in Animal Nursing at SLU
    • Josefin Söder, Postdoctoral Researcher in Method Development in Body Condition Assessment at SLU
    • Sören Spörndly Nees, Researcher in physiotherapy and behavioral medicine at Uppsala University, UU.
    • Jan Eriksson, Professor of Clinical Diabetes Research at UU.

The research team is now focusing on establishing contacts with landscape architects and psychologists as well, in order to achieve comprehensive expertise in the areas covered by the research.

The project is being carried out in three parts, which can be simply described as:

  1. Training study 1 (pilot study): With the aim of scientifically evaluating the working dog club's training program Up and Jump - Healthy with Dogs based on the question “Can the training program increase physical activity and well-being in dogs and dog owners?”

  2. Nationwide survey: Focusing on the lifestyle habits and health of Swedish dog owners through a random sample from the Swedish dog registry. The survey was sent out to 2,000 dog owners, and follow-up interviews are planned.

  3. Training study 2: In the fall of 2024, the first study will be conducted in the form of a randomized controlled trial, with an extended training program from 8 to 12 weeks and a control group. All changes have been made to ensure more reliable results. Hopefully, this sub-study can also be supplemented with follow-up interviews.

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