A new study suggests that spending time with therapy dogs may help lower children’s stress levels even more than relaxation exercises.
An unexpected benefit of adopting Annie, my family’s 40-pound, floppy-eared mutt, is the soothing effect she has had on my children. My sons often come home from a long, packed day at school and flop down on the floor next to Annie’s bed, lying quietly while she licks their fingers and cheeks. Or they’ll rub her belly, taking a beat before they pivot to dinner and homework and everything else that needs to happen before they head to bed.
Annie is a true rascal with endless energy, but her mere presence in our home calms my kids in a way I did not see coming when we brought her home over a year ago.
A study published on Wednesday shines a light on that powerful child-canine connection. It found that twice-weekly sessions with a dog and its handler significantly lowered children’s levels of cortisol — the body’s stress hormone — which they measured through saliva samples. The intervention appeared to be more effective than guided relaxation sessions.
“Our study shows, for the first time, that dog-assisted interventions can indeed lead to lower stress in children, with and without special educational needs, over a typical school term,” said Kerstin Meints, a professor in developmental psychology at the University of Lincoln in England, and one of the study’s researchers.
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