How animal therapy relieves stress to the students.
Therapy dogs have been adopted by students, especially in Florida, as a way of providing support and comfort, particularly for the students returning to school. According to research, therapy dogs reduce stress providing a connection sense, especially in stressful situations. Provided the impact of these therapy dogs on the student’s wellbeing, universities and schools have increasingly adopted programs of therapy dogs to act as an inexpensive plan for providing emotional and social supports for the students. The article illustrates more about how animal therapy relieves stress to the students.
Therapy dogs are not only service dogs but assistance dogs focusing on their owner to the exclusion of anybody else. These dogs are well trained to offer specific support to people with disabilities, for example, the hearing impaired, mobility challenges, visual seizure disorders, and diabetes. The therapy dogs respond and react to their environment and people under the direction and guidance of their owners. For instance
people are sometimes encouraged ta talk to the pet or gently pat to help them be calm, teaching sensitive touch.
Therapy dogs are also used as animal-assisted therapy parts to improve individuals’ emotional, cognitive, and social functioning. Health care officers and professionals using therapy dogs in medications and treatments are sometimes viewed as less threatening. They have the potential of increasing connections between the professional and the clients. Animal-assisted activities are other ways where dogs are used in helping humans. They are used to facilitate physical and emotional wellbeing and mental health through the presence of therapy dogs and pet therapy. The activities, however, are not seen as psychological interventions as the professionals oversee them. The body of humans and that of animals have positive impacts on the animals and people. According to research, therapy dogs tend to reduce stress, physiologically, thereby increasing responses and attachments, triggering oxytocin hormone, increasing human trust. In response, dogs tend to reduce the levels of Cortisol, producing oxytocin when connected to their owners. Besides, dogs positively react to animal-assisted activities. Often dogs tend to feel the same way when they take part in animal-assisted tasks, although it depends on the context of their environment.
In the Lipscomb university, the students and the members of staff have been providing therapeutic activities to assist students in competing pressures and stress in their final weeks of final examinations. The institutions offer chances for their students to play with animals and kittens in the Williamson County Animal Shelter. Scientifically cuddling, dancing, and speaking with the animals increases the dopamine levels in the human brain leading to happy and peaceful feelings. The schools, somewhat understand how it’s easy when students are overwhelmed with social clubs, school works, jobs and extracurriculars and the activities juggled by the students.
Therapy dogs assist in the therapeutic in that they teach the appropriate interpersonal skills helping individuals and people develop social skills. The animal presence and soothing seem to build rapport between the clients and the professional, improving people’s improve the social cues that are essential to human relationships. The information may be used by the professors to help their clients to understand how their behaviors affect the other factors and individuals in their living environment.
Therapy dogs are beneficial at school. According to recent reports, children working with dogs that are therapeutic experiences increased motivation for studying and learning significantly in improving their outcomes in their final examinations. Furthermore, the therapy dogs support the same children with emotional and social needs of learning which inturns enhances and assists in their literal developments. The effects of therapeutic dogs, particularly in schools, entail gains in confidence, improved school attendance, and reduced learner anxiety ethics and behaviors, leading to improved outcomes of learning, for example, increased writing and reading levels. Also, it leads to changes and improvement in motivation, enhancing teachers, and peer relationships due to the experience of the unconditional and trust love from the therapeutic dogs. In response, it helps the students to acquire knowledge in how they express their feelings entering more into the relationships and beliefs. Despite the emotional and social impacts of therapeutic dogs, some of the schools have not adopted dog programs due to believes and perceived risks. It ranges from sanitation concerns and issues to the dog temperament suitability when relating and working with school children. The owners of the therapy dogs are put through testings and strictly selected before any program acceptance in schools. The main reason behind the perception could be linked to limited research about the therapeutic benefits of dogs in the learning institutions.
Therapy dogs are beneficial to university level education. According to the researchers, the university students reported less anxiety and stress, leading to significantly increased energy and happiness following the presence of dog programs compared to the social and emotional characteristics of the students that did not attend the therapy dog programs. Realistically, the dog therapy programs most rely on the volunteer programs, for example, the Story Dog volunteers with more than 324 teams in not less than 190 schools in Tasmania, Victoria, and Queensland. The research of the dog programs improves further understanding of the therapeutic impacts of these dogs, especially on the academic performance and student outcomes. However, there is a need for improved funding, and the university partnership should help in addressing the financial challenge to assist in improving the academic performance, reducing stress and anxiety among its students.
Pets help in enhancing mental health problems such as bipolar disorder, depression, PTSD, and schizophrenia. However, pets may not cure mental illness, although the interactions with these animals would help the sufferers to manage their everyday life and disease. The availability of pets provides a strong sense of self-worth, identity, and meaning. The care for the pets also provides a feeling of control to the owner, improving the sense of security. In particular, dogs are responsive and sensitive to humans’ behaviors in that they are tuned to their emotions and moods. The animals tend to pick up on instances when we are unwell or distressed, offering a comforting feeling. The pets also make us feel needed, especially for the people who live alone by providing consistency, purpose, and a sense of achievement. Dogs and other pets should well be fed.They help in the improvement of our mindfulness by distracting people’s problems and appreciating the present joy. Taking care of dogs helps in improving our healthy habits and improving our social connections.