Recipe for Exam Success? Rent a Puppy!
If you, or your child is hard at the books, and stress levels are rising, then you may be interested to know that "borrowing a puppy" for a bit of companionship will reduce levels of cortisol – a hormone associated with stress – and releases endorphins.
Undergraduates at Aberdeen University in the United Kingdom are looking to tap into this physiological affect and have set up a special "puppy room".
The university itself took the idea from American and Canadian universities such as Harvard and Yale, which have dogs on campus that students can take out like books.
Speaking to the UK's Telegraph newspaper, Emma Carlen, Aberdeen University's president of societies and student activities, said a trial had already been run.
"We got a really positive reaction to that from the guide dogs and the students." Miss Carlen said the sessions helped students to relax in the most stressful period of their academic year. She also said it would help push up grades.
