The University of Central Lancashire is set to open its first 'puppy room' tomorrow in a bid to help de-stress their students.

As part of a new initiative, the university is hosting the event for their SOS (Stressed Out Students) campaign and has teamed up with the charity Guide Dogs to offer students the chance to cuddle a puppy during exam time.

The idea initially came from a piece of research in Japan found that people have better concentration when looking a pictures of cute things such as dogs, babies and kittens.

In a survey of 132 students, "through three separate experiments a team of scientists from Hiroshima University showed that people showed higher levels of concentration after looking at pictures of puppies or kittens".

However, for students who looked at cats and dogs their concentration wasn't as good.

"The participants who were shown images of puppies and kittens performed their tasks better after the break than those who looked at cats and dogs. Performance scores improved by 44%. They also took their time. The time it took to complete the task increased by 12%."

The room is available for three hours from 11am until 2pm tomorrow and the pups will have regular breaks throughout the three hours and will be with their handlers at all times.

Always considering the health of the dogs, the university has even set up a separate chill out area room for them and the number of students allowed into the room will be limited so as not to overwhelm them.

The dogs charity has previously worked with Lancaster University Students' Union and it helps to give the guide dogs in training the chance to get used to being around people, which is ideal for their development.

And the cost of such a brilliant idea? Students are required to give a minimum £1 donation to the charity for a chance to snuggle with one of the puppies.

Now, how can we convince our boss to do the same?

UK university opens up a 'puppy room' to help students de-stress