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While students often disagree with the claim that they are frequently stressed, many studies have shown that learners of any academic level tend to have high stress and anxiety levels.

Moreover, researchers state that once students begin their academic life, the feeling of tension remains high, and it never returns to preschool rates. Thus, it is vitally important to know what causes stress and suppresses it as quickly as possible.

Things that increase anxiety levels are homework, classes, and, above all, exams. And while many helpful centers, like https://gpalabs.com/, can cover students’ backs with homework, the question of how to cope with stress during classes remains open.

In looking for a complex solution, researchers have interviewed and surveyed various students. Some were excessively stressed, with anxiety negatively impacting the quality of sleep, eating habits, and productivity.

Others, in turn, demonstrated no signs of anxiousness and distress. Admittedly, they had similar habits to their counterparts in a classroom, except for one thing. They had a dog. So does having a dog change the entire situation and make students less stressed and more attentive?

Yes, and here are several science-based reasons behind that statement.

Dogs Can Feel Stress

Dogs are intelligent creatures, and they can feel whether a person is stressed. What is more, doggos know when to approach people and lower their anxiety levels. It might sound simple, but studies revealed that petting a dog and spending some time with it provides benefits that can last up to six weeks.

Even overstressed students reported being able to build plans and complete tasks quicker and more effectively.

Teaching Empathy and Relevant Interpersonal Skills

Having a dog or attending dog therapy lowers stress levels and teaches empathy, communication, and social skills.

Even by simply petting, playing, and talking with the dog, the chances are students can quickly pick up the necessary interpersonal skills to help them interact with one another and experience meaningful conversations.

Dogs can also help overstressed students manage their behavior both during classes and at home.

High rates of stress and anxiety can suppress the feeling of empathy. Students bombarded with assignments may not be able to feel and share the feelings of another, as they are entirely focused on the requirements and deadlines.

Studies indicated that even brief interactions with dogs resulted in substantial declines in anxiety and increased empathy, making students change their focus from classes to interlocutors and thus re-experience the feelings/emotions of the latter.

Helping Students Get Rid of Low Self-Esteem

Academia often requires students to move from their homes to campuses, start living independently, work, control their expenses, etc. Needless to say that this puts an enormous burden on their shoulders.

Consequently, students often can’t go outside, brush up on their social skills, and simply improve their confidence through face-to-face interactions. Such academic and daily hassles are detrimental. They can result in low self-esteem, excessive timidness, and isolation from peers.

One way to fix it is through interacting with dogs. Studies have shown that dogs positively influence learners’ mental health and physical well-being, boost social interactions, and even reduce blood pressure.

Furthermore, researchers declared that over the years, dog owners have had greater life satisfaction, high confidence, reduced level of stress, anxiety, and loneliness, and a more positive attitude toward life, overall. Some of the mentioned may appear even after minor interactions with dogs.

Prompting to Make Students Proficient

Developing the necessary skill set is imperative in college. Students enroll in different courses to become first-class professionals upon graduation. It is unfortunate, but increased levels of stress often prevent students from obtaining the desired knowledge.

Through systemic interactions with dogs, students learn various strategies to approach a person to find common ground. This leads to building rapport between a student and their future client.

Improving Motivation and Enhancing Productivity

There is also empirical evidence that dogs can smooth students’ stress and improve their connection with teachers and colleagues. Even a single drop-in session demonstrated that attendees were less distracted by homesickness, anxiety, and stress.

Moreover, learners stated that a single session improved their mood, restored their concentration, and motivated them to continue to study. This gave a potent message to school principals that therapy dogs might be in demand on the institution’s premises.

Some reported ruminating about creating an office for dog therapy and randomly visiting classrooms to relieve stress and reinstate learners’ attention.

Lessen Tension in the Classroom

Classes can often be tense, with students not knowing one another well. Also, a good deal of stress might come from an instructor, even though there might be no reason for assuming that.

Attending Animal-assisted therapy (AAT) or bringing a dog into a classroom helps demolish a boundary between a teacher and students. Dogs are incredible intermediaries; they can shorten the distance between people and make them more open-minded.

This also causes a decline in anxiety and an increase in more effective study sessions.

Having a dog or allowing students to interact with dogs on campus has a dozen benefits. Dogs can help students study, decreasing their anxiety and stress levels. Aside from that, walking with or simply petting dogs positively impacts students’ psychological well-being.

Even a single drop-in session with dogs can better the mood and enhance learners’ desire to study. Finally, doggos help students advance their interpersonal skills and build strong connections with interlocutors.

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