Having a Dog and Doing Yoga Helps Lower Stress
Marina Caliendo, a junior at Arrowhead High School, gives her dog a kiss. Her dog always makes her feel loved and unstressed.
Stress is a common thing for both high school and college students. From studying to get an A on a test, to tryouts for a school sport, stress is everywhere. Stress has been higher than ever, according to the UCLA annual report on America’s university mindset.
The Associated Stress wrote in Stress, Anxiety Levels Continue to Climb for High School, College Students, “A new study has found that five times as many high school and college students are dealing with anxiety and other mental health issues than youth of the same age who were studied in the Great Depression era.”
Studying until you cause anxiety can actually make you perform worse on tests. Anxiety also causes you to lose sleep. Without enough sleep, you will not be able to be at your most alert.
Julia Winkel, a junior at Arrowhead High Schools says, “Ever since high school, I’ve been really stressed out. I also have so much homework and test to study for, so I become really stressed.”
There are many ways to reduce stress. Having a dog or doing yoga will be very beneficial to reduce stress, according to Michelle Healy, a USA Today journalist. Also, setting a time to relax will make you less stressed.
Dogs help reduce stress because they improve your mood. When you come home from a long day at school, your dog will most likely be there greeting you with a wagging tail. Petting a dog alone can lower your blood pressure, according to Emily G.W. Chau, a Ladies’ Home Journal journalist. Dogs also require exercise. Taking your dog for a walk is healthy because it gives you exercise and a time release the stress.
Yoga reduces stress because it calms your heart rate and lowers your blood pressure, according to Joseph Nordqvist, a MNT journalist.
Timothy McCall, M.D wrote in Yoga for Stress and Burnout, “Reducing stress levels can greatly improve health and quality of life—and yoga is arguably the best overall system for stress reduction ever invented.”
Yoga involves breathing slowly, which helps you relax. Not only does yoga help you relax, it also eases your mind and benefits your physical health. You can find yoga classes at your local sports club or you can do it at home.
Winkel says, “I do yoga sometimes at night and it really helps me relax and feel less stressed.”
