Dog therapy

With three tests this week alone it's no wonder that I've been feeling a little stressed, tacking on 3 hours worth of practice does nothing the help either. So how to deal with all this stress? Get more sleep? Can't, I need to cram for that physics test tomorrow. So what to do? Well I noticed that whenever I was playing or petting my dog that I felt much better afterwards. Then I heard about dog therapy. The concept of dog therapy is basically that when you spend time with and petting dogs that you will "feel better". It has been proven that petting a dog can lower ones blood pressure, and increase the levels of oxytocin, an endorphin that creates a calming effect. Mentally, dog therapy can lower anxiety, lower feelings of loneliness and depression, and reduce boredom. Dog therapy has also been linked to the improving of children's literacy skills, due to the fact that the kids find it more comforting and less judgmental or stressful to read to a dog as opposed to their peers or teachers. So what are the disadvantages to dog therapy? Allergies if applicable, also therapy dogs are not regarded as service dogs, which means it can be difficult to gain them access to a lot of buildings and institutions, since there are no federal laws regarding therapy dogs. Even with that obstical, there have been many schools and institutions that have adopted therapy dogs as a practice. UC San Diego has hosted an annual event called therapy fluffies, where dogs are brought on campus for the students to pet and play with. I think more schools, like New Trier, could benefit from events like this especially around finals, where students anticipate their finals with their tails between their legs.