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A new study suggests getting that cute dog in one's more mature years might be a good idea after all. 

Researchers from the Sun Yat-sen University in Guangzhou, China, found that pet ownership can be associated with slower rates of developing dementia. 

The study, published on Tuesday in JAMA Network Open, determined that owning a pet made a difference in verbal memory and fluency among adults who lived alone.

NEW STUDY SHOWS THE EFFECT OWNING PETS HAS ON OWNERS' BRAINS

The study's author, professor Ciyong Lu, said in the study that slower rates of declining verbal memory and fluency were seen in those who lived alone — but not in those who lived with others.

"Pet ownership offset the associations between living alone and declining rates [of] verbal memory and verbal fluency," he said. 

The research involved more than 7,900 participants over the age of 50, with roughly 35% of them owning pets and 27% of them living alone.

In the study, Lu said that those living alone with a pet showed slower rates of developing signs of dementia.

DOG OWNER GOOD NEWS: PETTING YOUR DOG MAY LEAD TO STRONGER MEMORY AND BETTER PROBLEM SOLVING SKILLS

"These findings suggest that pet ownership may be associated with slower cognitive decline among older adults living alone," he said.

"Contrary to living alone," the authors also wrote, "pet ownership (for example, raising dogs and cats) is related to reduced loneliness, an important risk factor for dementia and cognitive decline."

Lu said that clinical trials will be necessary in order to confirm the study's findings.

Currently, more than 55 million people worldwide have dementia — with nearly 10 million new cases each year, according to the World Health Organization (WHO). 

EATING ONE POPULAR FRUIT COULD HELP REDUCE YOUR CHANCES OF DEVELOPING DEMENTIA, STUDY FINDS

Alzheimer's disease is the most common form of dementia, which is currently the 7th leading cause of death, the WHO also notes. 

Early symptoms of dementia include forgetfulness, being confused, losing track of time, misjudging distances, feeling anxious, personality changes, inappropriate behavior and more.

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There is currently no cure for dementia or for someone developing signs of dementia, but the WHO suggests that staying active and continuing to stimulate the brain may help.

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Fox News Digital reached out to Lu for further comment. 

For more Lifestyle articles, visit www.foxnews.com/lifestyle.

The latest weight loss craze could also help people control their drinking.

Semaglutide treatments such as Ozempic and Wegovy have been shown to reduce the symptoms of alcohol use disorder (AUD), according to a study published in The Journal of Clinical Psychiatry on Nov. 27.

The collaborative study from The University of Oklahoma (OU) and Oklahoma State University (OSU) found a “significant and noteworthy decrease” in the Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test (AUDIT) scores of six patients who were receiving semaglutide treatment for weight loss.

Lead study author Dr. Jesse Richards, director of obesity medicine and assistant professor of medicine at the OU-TU School of Community Medicine, said the study was inspired by his conversation with Dr. Kyle Simmons, professor of pharmacology and physiology at the OSU Center for Health Sciences.

“I had been hearing from a significant number of patients that their alcohol intake was spontaneously decreasing while [they were] on the medication,” Richards told Fox News Digital.

As a bariatric surgery clinic employee, Richards noted that it’s standard to screen patients for alcohol use.

At the clinic, a number of patients tested positive for alcohol consumption, sometimes in concerning amounts.

Later, while on semaglutide medication, they reported reduced alcohol intake.

One of Richards’ patients — who previously drank large amounts of alcohol — shared a new inability to drink more than two cans of beer now because it “just doesn’t sound good.”

This response piqued Richards’ interest in learning more about patients’ aversion to alcohol, which directly correlated to his research.

Research has shown that this effect is “mediated through adjustments in the reward pathway in the brain,” he said.

“The GLP-1s are actually modifying dopamine, decreasing the craving and decreasing the motivation to acquire things in that compulsive intake category.”

The most surprising takeaway from the study, Richards said, was that the same significant treatment response was seen even at very low doses.

“We found that even patients on the lowest dose of semaglutide — a quarter milligram — had a quite significant and relatively … quick onset reduction in alcohol intake,” he said.

Of the six patients studied, all but one were on low doses — from a quarter to a half milligram.

“And that’s very encouraging because we know that the lower doses of these medications are tolerated much better,” said Richards.

While the results seem promising, the doctor said he does not recommend that patients use semaglutide treatments for alcohol use disorder at this time, due to supply and safety issues.

“If patients have [obesity and diabetes] indications for the medication and they also struggle with alcohol intake … having them on this treatment may potentially be beneficial,” Richards said.

“But because there has been a global medication shortage, and because we don’t have prospective trials and don’t know what the specific safety is versus the well-established safety data in obesity and diabetes, [I] would not recommend it just for patients who have AUD.”

There are three FDA-approved drugs available for alcoholic use disorder that are currently underused, the doctor noted.

Given that five million people in the U.S. are currently taking semaglutide medications, if it is proven that those drugs have a significant effect on alcohol use disorder, “by default, they are going to become the most widely used drug to Excellerate these symptoms — just by virtue of the fact that so many people are on them for diabetes or obesity,” Richards noted.

He confirmed that additional research is underway with two ongoing trials.

“Since we were able to show clinically meaningful reductions in alcohol intake and AUD symptomatology in a real-world setting, that bodes very well for these types of medications,” he said.

Looking ahead, Richard said there is a need for higher-quality evidence of the medication’s impact on AUD compared to placebo drugs or environmental factors.

Even though it’s unclear whether GLP-1 producers will market the medication to AUD patients in the future, Richards said this could become an “established medical practice once the safety and efficacy has been determined.”

For patients who struggle with AUD, Richards recommended they talk to their health care providers about available treatment.

He also alerted patients that if they experience a reduced appetite and usually consume “a bunch of calories” in alcohol, it may be necessary to look into a more balanced diet.

Avantika Waring, 9amHealth’s chief medical officer and a trained physician and endocrinologist in San Francisco, applauded the OU and OSU study findings for further supporting what clinicians “are already seeing in practice,” she told Fox News Digital.

“GLP-1 medications have a lot of effects that we are still learning about, and the ability to decrease cravings and the reward signals related to alcohol use are just some of the benefits,” she said.

“It’s an important starting point for further clinical trials,” she added.

Waring also warned that GLP-1 medications should not be used to treat AUD specifically, as they can cause side effects such as nausea and changes in appetite.

“People struggling with alcohol use disorder should consult with their physicians before starting GLP-1 medications to make sure that they can stay hydrated and safe on therapy,” she said.

Waring noted that if ongoing clinical trials find semaglutide treatments to be effective for AUD, the medical community will “have another tool to help people living with alcohol addiction and we’ll see expanded use of these already popular drugs.”

Fox News Digital reached out to Novo Nordisk for comment on the potential link between semaglutide medications and alcohol use disorder.

Around 1.3 million women experience menopause in the United States each year.

Although menopause begins between 51 and 52 years old, about 5% of women experience early menopause between 40 and 45 years old, while 1% experience premature menopause before the age of 40.

The most significant symptoms of menopause are hot flashes, sleep problems, low libido, and mood changes.

There are different treatments to manage menopause, including hormonal and non-hormonal therapies. Furthermore, lifestyle changes, such as eating well, exercising, and looking after mental well-being, can help with symptoms during menopause.

But as cannabis has become legally available due to its regulation in many US states for both medical and recreational purposes, some women are consuming it to successfully manage menopause, as a latest study has recently shown.

Researchers from McLean Hospital Imaging Center, Belmont, MA, and Department of Psychiatry, and Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, conducted a survey study recently published in Menopause: The Journal of The North America Menopause Society to find out how the use of cannabis affects women with menopause-related symptoms.

Results suggest that numerous women currently use cannabis as an adjunctive treatment for menopause-related symptoms, especially to treat sleep disorders, mood and anxiety, and low libido.

According to the study, cannabinoid treatment can help manage menopause symptoms as the endocannabinoid system involves various physiological and psychological processes, such as regulating body temperature, mood, anxiety, and sleep.

In particular, the authors of this study think that cannabis compounds could interact with anandamide, a chemical compound produced by the ovaries whose production drops during menopause.

Anandamide is part of the endocannabinoid system, which regulates the human body's emotional, sleeping, and temperature functions and influences the female reproductive system.

Therefore, the interaction between cannabis compounds and anandamide, which levels are thought to be correlated with estrogen levels, could mitigate the trigger of the symptoms during the menopause transition.

The authors of the survey study recruited perimenopausal and postmenopausal participants on social media platforms between March 2020 and April 2021.

Perimenopause is when the body makes the natural transition to menopause. Instead, postmenopause refers to when an individual hasn't experienced a period for over a year.

Participants completed self-report questionnaires reporting their medical conditions, medications, menopause-related symptoms, cannabis use in general, and cannabis use for menopause-related symptoms, and included their history of cannabis use.

Overall, the survey included 258 participants.

Most participants were primarily White, non-Hispanic, middle-aged women who reported an annual income reflecting middle-class status or above, completed an undergraduate degree or higher, were married or in a relationship, and were employed at least part-time.

Most participants reported at least one-lifetime use of cannabis (92.0%). In comparison, 83.5% of participants reported they use cannabis at least once a month, and 86.1% reported more frequent cannabis use.

While 51.5% of participants reported using cannabis for both medical and recreational use, 30.8% reported using cannabis for recreational use only, and 17.7% for medical purposes only.

The most used methods to consume cannabis among this study's participants were smoking, edibles, and vaping oil. Of those who reported at least one-lifetime use of cannabis, 78.7% reported using it to treat menopause symptoms, in particular sleep disorder (67.4%), anxiety (46.1%), and low libido (30.4%).

Although these findings show that cannabis may help alleviate menopause-related symptoms, the study has several limitations to consider.

As most participants are White, the result from this study may not be generalized as evidence suggests that race and ethnicity significantly impact menopause symptom presentation.

For instance, Black individuals have a higher risk for vasomotor symptoms, and Hispanic individuals have a greater risk for mood changes than White individuals.

Also, the authors suggest that "the findings from this survey study rely exclusively on self-report and may have been impacted by self-report bias and inaccurate recall."

At last, this survey study doesn't discuss profiles and dosage of cannabis, which can significantly impact the efficacy of treating menopause and the safety of the individuals.