How Dogs Can Help Students Improve Their Mental Health During Exams

Students are a bunch of worrywarts. The anxiety that comes with exam season is unbearable, the long hours spent studying are stressful, and the thoughts about the future cloud their heads.

However, what if there was something that man’s oldest companion could offer to students to help with this issue?

Dogs have been proven to have positive effects on mental health and can be beneficial for students going through exams, which is why I believe universities should consider adding them to their stress-relief programs.

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The Stress of Exam Season

Before we explore how dogs can help, let’s climb into the head of a student about to take a big exam and take a look at what stress exams can cause. Exams are a make-or-break moment in the educational careers of almost every student.

The stress of doing well can lead to anxiety, poor sleep, and often even depression. Stress doesn’t just feel bad, it often can lead to poorer performance and a cyclical stress trap.

When exams loom, many students report symptoms of stress that range from mild nervousness to full-blown panic attacks and, coupled with the late nights of study and the poor diets that can accompany that, make the situation even more acute.

We clearly need to find more effective ways for students to cope with the stress. Yet, fortunately, we might have a solution right under our noses, or, more precisely, under our feet.

The Calming Presence of Dogs

Dogs can provide comfort and reduce stress during exams, which can be especially helpful for students who use write my case study services to manage their academic responsibilities effectively.

The presence of dogs can lower blood pressure, reduce heart rate, and decrease stress hormones such as cortisol, making them an ideal companion during exam season for the anguished mind.

When the kids reach out their hands to stroke the dog, their bodies begin to secrete a chemical called oxytocin – often referred to as the ‘love hormone’ – which promotes feelings of bonding and well-being.

The added bonus is that these positive effects offset some of the detrimental effects of stress. The time a student takes to stroke a dog, away from the rigors of study, even spending a few minutes with us in the office, is vital for resetting the switched-on stress response of the brain.

Beyond this, dogs provide unconditional, nonjudgmental love and support, including for students who might otherwise be brought low by evaluations centered on grades or performances.

This animates what was otherwise a high-pressure academic environment with a cool, comforting breeze of nonjudgmental companionship.

Physical Benefits of Interacting with Dogs

Though the mental health benefits of dogs are far-reaching, the physical benefits cannot be underestimated. Dogs can get students to move around more. During exam season, many students become quite de-conditioned, glued to a chair for long hours of study.

Walking the dog or tossing a ball are great excuses to get some exercise and physical activity, both of which lower cortisol, ease tension, and enhance general health. Exercise, by releasing endorphins (a feel-good substance the body naturally produces), reduces anxiety and depression.

On the other hand, caring for a dog gives a student a schedule, which can come in handy during exam times when one’s schedule is disorganized. Regular times of walking or feeding can again give a student who is bombarded by constant studies a sense of normalcy, and keep them from becoming stressed out.

Dogs as Social Facilitators

One of the less obvious benefits of dogs is the way they can be social facilitators. Over the summer, exam months can be a lonely time for many students, as long hours are spent revising alone. I found that the dog helped me to break this isolation.

For one thing, dogs are conversation-starters. Whether in the park or on campus, dogs are an irresistible target for a friendly greeting and conversation with their owners.

For the dog owner, these social opportunities can provide much-needed mental breaks from studying. They might even help combat the loneliness that many students feel.

Second, by creating communal experiences in which students can gather to pet and play with therapy dogs together, students going through the same stressful experience can rebuild community with one another through their shared positive experiences.

The Power of Mindfulness and Dogs

Mindfulness, which involves living in the moment, is known to have numerous mental health benefits, and contact with dogs naturally fosters mindfulness.

When stroking a dog, feeling its fur, listening to its breathing, or watching it play, with what they’re doing. As a result, their worry about the next test might drift away a little.

This kind of ‘forced’ mindfulness practice might be especially useful for students who struggle with more standard meditation techniques; a dog can be an effective antidote for the chatterbox of the mind.

It can offer a meditative reset of the mind, allowing the student to return to the task at hand with fresh energy.

Important ways dogs can help students during exam season:

Implementing Dog Therapy Programs on Campus

In light of the myriad benefits of human interaction with dogs, and with many universities adopting dog therapy programs for time-limited but high-stress periods (such as exam season), they involve bringing trained therapy dogs to campus for students to interact with.

Participants of these sessions often queue for long periods of time, hoping to spend just a few minutes with the therapy dog. The feedback has been unprecedented; students report feeling less stressed, happier, and more able to cope with exam stress after having some time with the dogs.

A handful of universities have taken the idea a step further, saying that students benefit so much from their dogs that certain spots on campus have been designated as ‘dog lounges’ where students can always interact with dogs, either when they feel like it or whenever they need a dose of stress relief between classes or before study sessions.

However, these types of programs need to be implemented with care and thought.

Universities need to ensure that their students and the dogs will be safe and secure, that the dogs are well-trained, that there is supervision during interactions, and that the presence of the dogs does not scare or irritate students with allergies or who are afraid of dogs.

The Long-Term Benefits of Dog Interactions

We can also see that the exam-season doggie-woofle phenomenon might have a deeper impact on the students. If they interact with dogs regularly, then these interactions could help build important stress-management skills that they can carry with them when they leave the academy for good.

They might spur some students to consider a pet of their own and in turn all the long-term mental health benefits of owning a dog. Those who can’t own a dog might be inspired to pursue activities in the future, such as participating in pet therapy programs.

Challenges and Considerations

While there are many benefits to including dogs in student mental health programs, it is also important to note the challenges that can arise and to consider these factors:

Not all students are comfortable around dogs for various reasons, such as allergies, phobias, or cultural reasons. It is up to the universities to make sure such programs are as inclusive as possible, and that students who feel uncomfortable around dogs have access to other options for stress relief.

There is also a question of staffing. The training and maintenance of a trained therapy dog team can cost tens of thousands of dollars, and few universities can allocate funds for such programs.

However, partnering with a local humane society or other therapy dog organizations can minimize such costs while also bringing dogs and students together.

Lastly, it is important to realize that while dogs are an excellent tool for stress management, they should not be seen as a replacement for professional mental health care.

There should always be counseling services available to students at universities and other mental health resources. Dog therapy at university can be an excellent complement to those services, but never a replacement.

Conclusion

As we have discussed in this post, there is a great deal that dogs can do to help in this way, including easing stress and anxiety; fostering physical activity, and promoting social interaction – the list of benefits from canine companionship goes on and on.

Whether it’s a full-blown dog therapy program or just a few dedicated dog-friendly spaces on campus, universities that offer their students access to a canine study aid are providing them with a novel and highly effective way of coping with exam stress.

Such initiatives can support students in the short term and help bring about a culture of openness about mental health and stress management that will benefit students long beyond their exams.

Although these programs present challenges, providing students with these benefits is a compelling reason for any university to seriously consider such a program as part of their focus on student mental health.

As our country focuses more attention on mental health as a key contributing factor to academic success, novel stress-relief programs that bring dogs into the classroom will likely become more common on campuses nationwide.

Ultimately, the unconditional love and support dogs give us can be a powerful counterbalance to the stress and pressure of exam season.

By utilizing the human-dog bond, universities can offer their students a cushion of comfort in the shape of a dog, who will sit by them while they go through the most difficult times of their degree.