Wellness Tip:

Give Your Pet a Pat Before Facing Something Stressful

Do you have a furry friend? Then you’re in luck: you have your own personal stress-buster curled up at your feet. Petting a dog or cat has been linked to lower stress levels, but exactly why has been harder to pin down. 🐶

A recent study from the University of Innsbruck looked at touch specifically. Sixty-four dog owners did a set of stressful tasks, then took a five-minute break during which they were either free to pet their dog or kept from touching it. Then they did a second round.

Petting didn’t help people bounce back faster during the break. But those who had touched their dogs showed fewer physical signs of stress (measured through heart and brain activity) in the next round. 

It’s a small study, and one of the first to isolate touch, so there’s more to learn. Still, it’s a nice reminder that a little pet cuddle might work like preventative medicine. 💛

So before you face your next stressful moment, take a few minutes to give your dog (or cat, or whoever’s nearby and fluffy) some attention. It might help, and they’ll love you for it too.

Routine Breakdown

Neada Deters, Founder and CEO of LESSE

Why This Beauty Founder Makes Time for Slow Mornings

For skincare brand founder Neada Deters, mornings used to be about productivity. An autoimmune diagnosis prompted her to reconsider how she approached them. Now, her routine makes room for quiet, reflection, and time outdoors. “In our house, mornings are sacred,” she says. Here’s how she starts her day:

The Routine:

• Starts with meditation. Neada wakes at 6:45 a.m. and meditates before moving into the rest of her morning.
• Has a sit-down breakfast. Her usual choices include muesli with chia seeds, almond butter and almond milk, or soft-boiled eggs with sourdough and sunflower sprouts. She also drinks a herbal tea blend made by her Chinese doctor/acupuncturist.
• Stretches and reviews the day. Around 7:20, she stretches while mentally reviewing her schedule and identifying her priorities.
• Journals for 10 mins. She follows this with some writing, “just allowing thoughts and ideas to flow.”
• Showers, does her skincare routine, and makes a quick matcha. “By this time, I’m sending off urgent emails and re-reviewing my schedule.”
• Gets outside. “We take our dog, Alfie, every morning. It’s a brief window of fresh air, sun, and time with my husband—who’s also my co-founder—before we head to the office.”
• Finds calm in her commute. Growing up in Sydney, Neada swam in the ocean each morning. Now, taking the ferry from Brooklyn to work offers a little of that same calm.

Why it works:

• Meditation has been found to reduce stress and anxiety, so it’s a great foundation for a calmer morning.
• A protein-rich breakfast to keep blood sugar stable, stretching to increase blood flow and flexibility, and identifying priorities to stay on track with long-term goals: a trifecta of morning wins.  
• Journaling boosts our self-awareness and emotional intelligence, among other benefits. 
• Time in green spaces is associated with lower stress—and so is spending time with pets! So the morning park visit offers more than exercise alone.

Neada’s routine takes a little under two hours, but it’s the focus on slow mornings instead of forced productivity that counts. Even if you don’t have that much time to spare (most of us don’t), slowing down a bit can still be a marvelous thing. It may just mean choosing fewer steps but taking more time to enjoy them. What do you think about slow mornings?