Watching Cute Cat Videos Good for Your Health, Research Says

A study has revealed that watching cute cat videos online is actually good for the health, Independent UK reported.

According to a study from Indiana Uniersity Media School, watching cute cat videos gives viewers a boost in energy and positive feelings. The research was conducted on 7,000 participants who filled out a survey about the effect of watching cat videos. This new finding was published in the Computers in Human Behavior journal.

Owner of online feline sensation Lil Bub, Mike Bridavsky, helped researcher Jessica Hall Myrick. He shared the survey among his cat's millions of online viewers to find out if watching cat videos had the same positive impact as pet therapy or whether they feel guilty about procrastinating.

The data that were gathered showed that viewers felt less annoyed, sad and anxious after watching a cute cat video. These positive emotions overpowered the feeling of guilt about wasting time watching internet viedos.

Additionally, the study revealed that the most popular sites for watching cat videos are YouTube, Facebook, Buzzfeed and I Can Has Cheezburger.

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

Myrick admitted that some people might think that watching cat videos online is not a serious enough topic for research. However, she feels its relevance because watching cat videos is one of the most popular activities in the Internet today.

Yale psychologist Oriana Aragon said that this behavior towards cute animals is instinctive. Scientists found that humans are naturally attracted to anything that has similar features to a baby, CNN reported.

"It is kind of a vice. We want our cute fix. There are entire things devoted to cuteness," Aragon said. "It's something that gives us pleasure, and makes us come back. Eating those high-calorie rich foods were essential to our survival in the early days."

Thus, it's not a surprise why people mindlessly go and get their "cute fix". In 2014, two million cat videos were posted on YouTube and garnered almost 26 billion combined views. Seeing cute animal videos in general send a dopamine rush to the brain, which also happens when we eat sugar and have sex.

This study supports a research that was conducted in Japan in 2012, Live Science stated. According to the findings, looking at cute photos of animals gave positive results to an employee's performance like increased attention. It also promoted careful behaviour.