Your cat’s purring is in a special frequency, which has many health benefits for the purring cat and humans. The soothing vibrations carry helpful therapeutic effects for both our physical and mental health.
This article shows all the benefits of a cat’s purr, both to you and for your cat.
My most favorite part of having a cat is laying down right next to her and listening to the relaxing rumbles she makes as she inhales and exhales. I immediately feel like everything is going to be okay, and the tension in my body disappears.
Whenever I feel stressed or sick, I can always count on her to climb on top of me and use her magical healing abilities to help me feel better.
Purring Benefits for the Cat
In the wild, cats use purring to heal themselves faster. It’s a way to self-repair and calm down after a stressful period. Domestic cats spend most of the time resting anyway. For them, the purring helps to keep their bones and muscles healthy even when they don’t move around a lot.
The healing properties of purring have been studied for a long time, and all the questions have still not been fully answered.
The mysterious origins of the purr and the fact that it requires energy to produce lead us to believe that there has to be a reason why it exists. They do it even if they are injured or ill to the point of dying.
According to the North Carolina researcher Elizabeth von Muggenthaler, purring is most likely a type of survival mechanism. An animal wouldn’t use its last energy and breaths to do something that won’t help it survive.
The low vibrations coming from the purring are in the range that can help with easing pain, swelling, and wounds. Vibrational therapy is good for repairing tendons, bones, and muscles faster.
When Cats Purr
It’s a common misconception that cats purr only when they’re happy, relaxed, or cuddly.
Yes, while it can represent that, it can just as much represent fear and distress. Cats purr when they’re afraid of something, when they are in pain, give birth, and when they are dying.
Mother cats use purring to soothe their babies, and babies purr so that the mother can locate them while feeding.
Cats may combine their high-pitched meowing cry for food with purring to get your attention. They may purr when they’re exploring a new environment.
There are countless situations, in which a cat can use its purring abilities for the sake of feeling better. The good thing is it can make us feel better, too.
Now, let’s focus on the ways a cat’s purring benefits us as owners. I assume that’s what you came for – to justify your impulsive decision to get a cat and prove to yourself that it was a good idea.
Well, it was.
The 7 Important Cat Purring Benefits for People:
- Lowers the risk of heart disease
- Better, more peaceful sleep
- Eases breathing problems
- Lowers blood pressure
- Faster healing of wounds, infections, and joints
- Strengthens the bones and muscles
- Calms down stress and anxiety
If you’re a proud owner of a cat, then you might already be familiar with some of the mentioned benefits.
Let’s look at them one by one in more detail.
1. Lowers the risk of heart diseases
A Minnesota study and extensive decade-long research revealed that people, who don’t own cats, are 40% more likely to die from heart complications and illnesses. It’s crazy how much the cat’s purring sounds can increase your life span.
It is because purring decreases and normalizes our heart rate.
That should be enough of a reason in itself to adopt a cat for anyone, who hasn’t done it already.
2. Better, more peaceful sleep
Studies from the United Kingdom proved that it’s more enjoyable and relaxing to sleep with a feline partner than a human one.
The participants slept better because of their pets purring close to them. The purring is a relaxing sound to listen to, and the more relaxed you are, the easier you will fall into a deep, rejuvenating sleep.
It’s much like any other white noise sounds that people like to listen to at night, such as raining, ASMR, and so on.
3. Eases breathing problems
Purring can also help with making breathing easier whenever you have difficulties or shortness of breath.
You may feel like you’re not getting enough air in your lungs, but the purring vibrations mimic the rhythm of inhaling and exhaling. That makes it easier for your lungs to follow the pace and stabilize the calming waves of breathing in and out.
Of course, it won’t work if you have a cat allergy.
4. Lowers blood pressure
Many things in our daily lives can cause our blood pressure to get higher than it should be.
Directly bad influences on blood pressure are unhealthy habits like drinking alcohol, smoking cigarettes, or even being around smokers for long enough.
In addition, stress also causes blood pressure to go up. Any kind of activity that causes us to develop anxiety can lure us into turning to wrong and harmful ways of coping with it.
A great way to cope with it is to just go back home to your furry little cat friend and let them do their magic to relax you and ease the stress. The purring will lower your blood pressure and give you a better solution than cigarettes and alcohol.
5. Faster healing of wounds, infections, joints, etc.
Gary Weitzman, a veterinarian at San Diego Humane Society, reveals more detailed information about the frequency of cat purring. It ranges between 20Hz and 150Hz, which is the perfect range of vibrations for faster healing in humans.
“Bone responds to 25-50Hz and skin and soft tissues to around 100Hz according to researchers.”
This includes all kinds of pain from wounds, swelling, infections, joint immobility, broken bones, tendons, and soft tissue.
Cats very rarely experience joint or bone problems exactly because of that reason. Their purring helps them be in good condition all the time and heal faster from any injuries. So the idea is that cat purrs can have the same healing benefits as humans.
If you agree with that, then keep your medicine close, and your cat closer.
6. Strengthens the bones and muscles
The frequencies most optimal for making bones stronger are 25-50Hz. The second most optimal range is 100-200Hz. It’s no surprise by now that cat purring falls into both of those categories.
If you’re wondering how cat purring can affect something as tough as our bones, then think about how you exercise. You put physical pressure on your body for it to become stronger.
Bones get sturdier and harder when they are subjected to high intensity pressure. That’s how vibrational therapy works. Through training, the bones and muscles rebuild and reinforce themselves.
That process of strengthening and healing back can be done with low frequency vibrations, too, instead of high frequency ones.
That’s how the cat purring benefits can be helpful for developing a healthy body and mind.
The muscle soreness afterward is also included in the purring benefits package.
7. Calms down stress and anxiety
Petting a purring cat on your chest is a hypnotizing feeling in the best way possible. Every cat owner knows how relaxing it is to listen to the sounds of your cat being relaxed.
Most of the time, we have no idea how much stress and anxiety we actually suppress from our daily lives. It can lead to problems with the immune system as well as vulnerability to diseases, and high blood pressure, as mentioned before.
The psychological benefits of purring may be harder to notice or believe, but the physical benefits are facts proven by years of research.
If cat purring can help with healing bones and muscles, it should be safe to believe that it can calm your nerves down and reduce your anxiety.
Another thing, which affects our mental well-being greatly, is the feeling of loneliness.
A bonus benefit of having a cat purring next to you is that it offers psychological support.
You have an affectionate companion that enjoys spending time with you, relies on you, pays attention to you, and loves you. Human relationships often bring many negative emotions, but a relationship with your furry pet can provide many positive benefits, and a peace of mind.
Our mental health is in good paws.
Those are the 7 most important benefits of cat purring for the human’s physical and mental health.
Overall, cats’ reputation of being always grumpy and selfish can be deceiving. They can be loving and affectionate when they care about their owner, and they will go out of their way to use their purring magical abilities to help us when we’re feeling bad.
Writer: Georgi Petkov
