Elizabeth Corpuz's work day isn't over when she walks in the front door at 5 p.m. Corpuz works full time at a financial services firm in Phoenix, where she spends her eight hours crunching numbers and making judgments on whether personal and corporate loans get the green light. It's a demanding job, but when it's over, her day is only half done. She then begins her second life as a full-time college student.

Corpuz is not your traditional college student; she's in her 20s and has been working in the financial field for about three years now. But she has her eye on a larger ambition: to learn about the complexities of chemicals so she can help people in their time of need. She's studying to be a pharmacist at a local college. She has a full class load, which requires tremendous amounts of reading and homework. Her head often doesn't hit the pillow until well after midnight.

Because Corpuz is single, she doesn't have anyone to handle the smaller chores of daily living: making dinner, going to the grocery store, paying the bills. All this she must do in between her other responsibilities.

How does she cope most days? Corpuz points to the small patch of fur at her feet, her four-year-old pug named Dodger, who showers her with love and affection as soon as she walks in the door. "It's something I really look forward to," she says.

"I'm completely zapped by the end of the day," Corpuz adds. "There are times when I'm just drained emotionally and physically, too. I'll just be burnt out. That's when it's really nice having Dodger around. He really takes my mind off things."

A good dose of Dodger, or any companion animal, may be just be what the doctor orders soon for dealing with stress. A new study confirms what pet lovers have known for years—having a cat or dog in your life is beneficial to your health.

A study published in the September/October issue of Psychosomatic Medicine confirms that having a dog or cat around does indeed provide cardiovascular benefits to the owners. The purpose of the study was to examine how the presence of a friend, a spouse, and a pet affected the subject's cardiovascular health during times of psychological and physical stress. Involving 240 married couples, half of whom owned a cat or a dog, the study asked participants to perform mental arithmetic or immerse a hand in ice water for two minutes while in the presence of a spouse or a pet or both a spouse and a pet. In the case of non-pet owners, a friend replaced the animal.

While all of the study's participants had normal blood pressure, the people who owned pets had much lower heart rates and blood-pressure levels when at rest. The highest levels of stress, measured by heart rates and blood-pressure levels, for both pet-owners and non-pet owners, came while performing mental arithmetic in their spouse's presence. When pet owners performed the same task with their pet present, however, heart rates and blood pressure increased at a much more moderate rate and recovered to their baseline point much faster.

The study's lead researcher, Dr. Karen Allen of the State University of New York at Buffalo, tells Reuters Health that one possible reason for the findings is that people view their pets as totally accepting and supportive, while "in contrast, no matter how much another person appears to be cheering us on in a supportive way, we do not always perceive that person—especially a spouse—as totally non-judgmental and accepting."

Stephanie Shain, director of companion animal outreach at The Humane Society of the United States, says the study backs up what has been known for years, namely that pets really do provide noticeable benefits to their owners. "You see it all the time—pets comforting people and helping them get through really tough times. Whether it's the cat in the nursing home or the dog who brightens an otherwise horrible day with a kind lick on the face, pets help us relax," she says.

Or, in the case of Corpuz, seeing her little pug's tail wag is all that's needed.

"I love seeing that thing go," she says. "It's so cute."

Brian Sodergren is an Issues Specialist in The HSUS's Companion Animals Outreach section.