Watching Cat Videos Good for Emotional Health, Decreases Negative Feelings

Cat owners and people with certain personality traits, such as agreeableness and shyness, were more likely to watch cute cat videos online.

Cat videos - from Lil Bub to Grumpy Cat - do more than simply entertain. If you get a warm, cuddly feeling after watching cute cat videos online, the effect may be more profound than you think.

Cat videos boost viewers' energy and positive emotions and decrease negative feelings, says a study.

Cats Find Classical Music 'Soothing' During Surgery
The clinicians concluded that the use of certain music genres in the surgical theater may allow a decrease in the dose of anesthetic agent required.

Internet data showed there were more than two million cat videos posted on YouTube in 2014, with almost 26 billion views.

Cat videos had more views per video than any other category of YouTube content.

The researchers surveyed almost 7,000 people about their viewing of cat videos and how it affects their moods.

Meet the English Man Who Claims He can Read Cats' Mind
In England, a cat fanatic has claimed that he has formed the power to read the minds of cats and solve their everyday problems.

"If we want to better understand the effects the internet may have on us as individuals and on society, then researchers can not ignore Internet cats anymore," said lead researcher Jessica Gall Myrick, assistant professor at Indiana University.

In Myrick's study, the most popular sites for viewing cat videos were Facebook, YouTube, Buzzfeed and I Can Has Cheezburger.

Cats Eat More in the Winter: Study
University of Liverpool research has found that cats eat more during the winter and owners should give their pet more food during this time.

Of the participants in the study, about 36% described themselves as a "cat person", while about 60% said they liked both cats and dogs.

The participants reported that they were more energetic and felt more positive after watching cat-related online media than before. Also, they experienced a decrease in negative emotions such as anxiety, annoyance and sadness after watching the videos.

Here is a Device That Lets You Play With Your Pet Cats Via Remote Control
A high-tech device called Kittyo allows cat owners to play with their at-home cat via remote control when they are away.

The participants often viewed internet cats at work or during studying. The pleasure they got from watching cat videos outweighed any guilt they felt about procrastinating.

"Even if they are watching cat videos on YouTube to procrastinate or while they should be working, the emotional pay-off may actually help people take on tough tasks afterward."

Cat owners and people with certain personality traits, such as agreeableness and shyness, were more likely to watch cat videos, the study found.

The findings were published in the journal Computers in Human Behavior.

Source-IANS