By Kelsey Norden
Stress is our body’s natural reaction to unbalance in our lives, such as that introduced by project deadlines and job applications. It’s good for us to feel stressed every so often – it means that our body is doing its job to keep us focused and working, and alerting us of danger if it arises. But too much stress can harm us, even make us incredibly sick.
There are a number of ways to combat stress, and we all have our favorites. You could brew some tea, go on a peaceful walk, or just turn away from your work for a few minutes. One of the methods I’ve recently come across and fallen in love with, however, is the power of cute animals on the internet.
It’s been proven that animals have the ability to make us feel less stressed. The friendship and kindness shown to you by your most beloved pet can calm you down like no other person or therapy could. In a college residence hall, however, students don’t have the option to keep a pet, so we make due with other methods. Students at SCAD could volunteer to work at Pet Project with the office of service opportunities for students, or if they have less time, check out a few of these excellent websites.
This webcomic by Sarah Sobole features a gag-a-day strip about a cat who is also a doctor. Every Friday Doctor Cat gives his patients check-ups, operates, or calms children in the pediatric ward. The comic is new with only a couple months worth of strips online, but has already proven its charm.
Just as the title says, this site features new puppies daily with a short bio and set of pictures for each. It doesn’t stop at just puppies, though, as there’s a whole additional section on the site featuring full-grown dogs. The Daily Puppy also features articles on caring for and training puppies, and readers can submit pictures of their own canine to be featured.
Similar sites include The Daily Otter, The Daily Bunny and The Daily Kitten.
Possibly everyone’s favorite past time is to find funny videos of animals on the web, and Pet Tube is your one-stop-shop for any such shenanigans. While you could just surf through YouTube, Pet Tube is built specifically for animal videos, with fresh new hits on the homepage each day. Take a five minute break every once in a while and see a dog attack the mailman or a cat pretend to be Rocky Balboa.
While all these websites are great distractions from stress, keep in mind that overexposure to cute animals can result in procrastination, so try to keep an eye on your time. The last thing that should happen is having hours pass clicking through pictures of adorable puppies and videos of hilarious cats without any work being accomplished, resulting in even more stress. Remember that a little stress is necessary to keep yourself motivated to get projects done, but when you’re too wound up to get anything done I hope you take a short break to read about a cat with a Ph.D.
