Midterms season means serious stress—and serious stress relief—at U of M

Four times a week the University of Minnesota brings out dogs as stress relief--and as any student can tell you, it actually works. 

This week, however, the school brought out the big guns to help with midterm stress--chickens, minature horses, and even plenty of non-living things like bubbles and coloring books. 

It's an annual event, though every year it seems to attract a bigger and bigger crowd as mental health needs rise--something experts attribute to an ever-connected lifestyle. 

"Before, there was a time when you picked up a newspaper or you didn't pick up a newspaper,"     "Now we're getting messages pushed to us all the time telling us about what's happening."

All of this leads to the feeling of an inbox that never empties, which means taking even a moment away from the hustle of our online world makes a huge difference.