Students, officials discuss puppy, nap rooms

Imagine a room where you can wind down with a couple of puppies after that rigorous research paper you finally turned in. Or imagine a room on campus where you could sleep away your exam worries free from judging eyes and people tweeting about you. Sounds like the perfect stress relief, right?

Sadly, UNA has neither of these facilities yet, but other schools like Harvard University are quickly catching on to this trend to help out their students.

“In our research on students who make poor grades, lack of sleep was consistently mentioned as a cause of poor performance,” said Kenda Rusevlyan, testing coordinator and academic advisor for CAARS at UNA.

Though napping is not a substitute for quality REM sleep, many students rely on naps to recharge and get through particularly stressful times.

“During finals I’m up here (on campus) all the time; it would be nice to have a place to sleep on campus,” said Phillip Holcombe, UNA student.

Holcombe, like most UNA students, lives off campus.

“Many of our students commute quite a way to school each day,” Rusevlyan said. “It’s not possible for them to grab some Z’s before the next class or study group. This would be an asset especially to them.”

Schools like Harvard are currently working out the details like cleanliness and avoiding abuse of these facilities to make sure the space remains available to students.

Rusevlyan expressed concerns for people taking advantage of a facility like a nap room.

“The old saying ‘You give them an inch and they’ll take a mile,’ comes to mind,” Rusevlyan said.

Another rising trend on college campuses are puppy rooms.

A puppy room is exactly what it sounds like.

Dalhousie University in Halifax, Nova Scotia, and the University of San Francisco are among many schools that have recently provided services like this to help their students unwind.

UNA student Liza Harrison said her dog is one of her main resources for stress relief.

“I was stressed out the other day and went home to my dog, and she made it all better,” Harrison said. “If I could bring her on campus, I totally would.”

UNA student Aleigh Pons said she would love and use a puppy room, but her main concern — as with the nap room — is cleanliness.