Alex Zoellick

Everyone gets stressed out during finals time: the students on the bubble and those whose grades are solid. The days leading up to exams, I’d often come home from school angry about learning another lesson and having the five months of information I learned over the course of a semester to study that I would ignore everyone on the path to my study seat. The only thing that would break me out of my funk was seeing my dogs. The instant I see them, a smile creeps onto my weary face and I have to take a break to spend some much-needed time with them. Once they get bored of me, I move back to my school work and find it easier to climb the Mount Everest of textbooks and review packets.

Is that a coincidence or the perfect distressing tool? Several colleges are proving therapy dogs can help destress students before final exams.

In my opinion, Libertyville should look into having dogs come in during the crucial study weeks leading up to finals and during the exam week. Students can spend their free periods with the dogs during the days leading up to finals in order to relieve studying stress or they can spend free periods between finals relaxing after difficult tests.

Stress is often the biggest obstacle in finals season. It is worse than the exam itself. Students often stress about having to memorize all the formulas and vocabulary words, but in turn, stressing out just makes it harder to remember.

“Studies also show excessive stress, like the kind students may experience during finals, impairs memory,” wrote CNN reporter Jen Christensen in her December 2013 story about therapy dogs that are used to help students at Emory University during the stressful finals weeks. “An activity that relieves that stress even for a moment improves a student’s ability to retain what they are trying to learn.”

Libertyville tries helping students destress by placing messages like “Exercise, get enough sleep and eat right to destress” around school on the Paw Street Journal, but having therapy dogs is an active way for the school to help its students, since the Paw Street Journal is often disrespected in the men’s room.

“Scientific studies do show that canine interaction increases a human’s level of oxytocin, a hormone that reduces anxiety and blood pressure,” added Christensen. “Petting a dog or caring for a pet helps people become less frightened, more secure and diverts their attention away from their own fears or anxieties.”

According to the Associated Press, anxiety and stress levels decrease when interacting with dogs. The interaction lowers the cortisol level while increasing the endorphin level. Cortisol is the hormone for stress while endorphins are essentially the hormone for happiness.

Why shouldn’t LHS give it a shot? There are definitely kids around school who are allergic to dogs but there are ways for the school to tip-toe around that accident waiting to happen. Issues can be avoided by keeping the dogs in certain areas of the school. For example, bring them to the studio theater or auditorium since students often don’t use these areas of the school for class. Then students can drop by during their lunch period or study hall to relax during the final week of the semester, or kids can stop in and recharge between tests instead of freaking about about the next one in the cafeteria.

“I think it would be great for LHS to have de-stressing dogs during finals,” said LHS junior Ryan Behm, who already walks his dog as a study break. “A lot of people love dogs, and having an option to go hang out with them for a couple minutes seems like a great way to relieve the stress of finals.”

So if LHS decides to give therapy dogs a shot, where are they going to get dogs? Programs like “Adventures with Bailey,” a therapy dog service from Northern Chicago area, works with special needs students and reading programs that could come to help LHS students. There are several more Reading Education Assistance Dogs, or R.E.A.D, programs around over the U.S. These programs work with educating kids with dogs.

Since it is already time from first semester finals, I think the school should try to find a program to help students out for second semester.