Why You Should Be Watching Cute Animal Videos to Reduce Stress

Social media provides us with a constant influx of content. From political ads to our acquaintances' "humblebrags," much of the content we consume causes us stress even if we don't realize it.

However, in the sea of stress-inducing posts, there is also a completely different and often under-appreciated category of content: pictures and videos of cute animals. Light-hearted, heart-warming, and even silly at times, such content is sometimes seen to be lacking substance or considered a time-waster—but there might be more to it.

Research has shown it might actually be beneficial for us to take in more "fluffy" (literally and figuratively) social media content. In fact, some studies have suggested watching cute animal videos can lift your mood and help build your resilience to stress.

Keep reading for a brief overview of the current research on whether cute animal videos can help reduce stress, as well as other evidence-backed ways to boost your mood and productivity.

The Case for Cute Animal Videos

When casually scrolling through your social media feed, you might not realize how the barrage of content is overwhelming your brain. Research has shown that several types of social media posts can be quite stress-inducing for people, even if it is just passive exposure to content while browsing.

For example, a study from the American Psychological Association (APA) revealed how encountering political posts and discussions online is a significant source of stress in many people's lives.

Research has also shown how the social comparison facilitated by social media can be a real source of stress. Social media makes it easy to compare our regular lives to the best versions of other people's lives we see on social media.

Cute animal content, however, is not as likely to stress us out. Several studies have hinted at the benefits of viewing pictures of cute animals, and these benefits might be more far-reaching than one would think.

While no single study provides a complete picture, a group of studies seems to show a link between cute animal videos and less stress and possibly greater satisfaction with many areas of life.

Cute Animals May Increase Relationship Satisfaction

A study led by Professor Jim McNulty, Ph.D., of Florida State University found cute animal photos could be used to improve marital satisfaction. At the beginning of the study, the researchers asked 144 couples who had been married for less than 5 years to complete marital satisfaction surveys.

Then, the researchers divided the couples into groups and had each group view a stream of images three times a week for six weeks. The couples in the experimental group saw a stream of images that included their partner paired with images associated with positive effects such as visuals of cute animals or positive words like “wonderful." The other group saw pictures of their partners paired with neutral objects like buttons.

After six weeks, the group who had been viewing the images including cute animal pictures paired with their spouses had more positive automatic responses to seeing their spouses. Additionally, they demonstrated more satisfaction with their marriages in their satisfaction surveys and improvements of a higher degree than those in the control groups.

Lifting Your Mood Can Build Resilience

In the early 2000s, a series of studies by researcher Barbara Fredrickson, Ph.D., found lifting your mood (“inducing positive effect") can broaden the range of options a person sees in their lives. In turn, people become more aware of the potential resources available to them and can build on those resources to work toward a brighter future.

This process can lead to more positive moods, greater resource-building, and a general “upward spiral of positivity” that can increase resilience to stress, as well as other benefits.

Videos Are Great Mood-Changers

Researchers are trying to determine which positive affect-induction techniques work the best. Examples of potential mood-boosting activities being explored include gratitude journaling, visualizing good things happening to us, and loving-kindness meditations.

Positive videos, however, are one of the strongest good-mood-inducers. A 2015 review of studies found that videos had a stronger effect on mood than music and several other mood-induction techniques.

It seems that in moderation, videos of things that lift our mood—like cute animals—are a great trigger for these “upward positivity spirals," which induce life satisfaction and resilience to stress.

Cute Animals May Boost Productivity

A study by Japanese researcher Hiroshi Nittono, Ph.D., found that participants who viewed pictures of puppies, Grumpy Cat videos, or watched panda cams experienced a boost in certain performance tasks.

In the study, subjects performed several tasks that required skill and concentration (including playing the board game, “Operation”) before and after viewing pictures of baby animals, adult animals, and neutral items like food.

Those who viewed the cute animal pictures performed significantly better than the other two groups. Researchers attributed the increased performance to a few factors, including that the baby animal videos appeared to help participants narrow their focus.

Other Ways to Boost Your Mood

There are many ways to boost your mood beyond cute animal videos. Exercise, seeing a good friend, or simply enjoying a cup of your favorite tea are a few things you can experiment with and incorporate into your day-to-day life.

The following are other activities you can try in conjunction with cute-animal-video-viewing, or on their own. You can never have too many mood boosters in your stress-busting arsenal.

Gratitude Journaling

At the beginning of your day, list three things for which you are grateful. You can also do this at the end of the day, listing things that happened that day or people you saw that provoked a sense of gratitude.

You can elaborate as much as you like with each entry, but writing even a brief list can give you a mood boost to carry you through the day.

Positive Visualizations

One technique for positivity is using mental imagery to visualize positive events happening to you. The events can be good things that have happened in the past, fantasy events (such as winning the lottery), or your hopes for the future (such as getting your dream job).

Spend just a few minutes imagining in detail how you felt when an event happened or thinking about how you would feel if it happened. Try to remember or imagine all the sensory details, and emotions, as well as what happens next.

Loving-Kindness Meditation

Loving-kindness meditation has repeatedly been proven to have many benefits for happiness and personal connection. Depending on how much time you have, you can use the technique for anywhere between just a couple minutes to a half hour. Practice loving-kindness meditation with the following steps:

1. Start by simply imagining that you are feeling positive. Think about directing peaceful feelings toward yourself and embracing yourself with positivity.
2. Next, expand the good feelings and extend them toward those in your family and your closest friend.
3. Extend the circle of positivity to your acquaintances, and then your enemies, until you are thinking about everyone in the world and envisioning positive feelings toward them.

Summary

Even though enjoying cute animal videos can be a reward, you might find yourself hesitant to watch them if you feel that they are unimportant—especially compared to the serious or ego-enhancing content on social media. You might feel watching cute animal videos is simply frivolous with everything else going on in the world.

However, remember stress management and emotional self-care are important to our ability to function well in our lives, as well as to be resilient and there for each other. If cute animal videos do that for you, then this “fluffy,” feel-good pastime is not as silly as it may seem.