Best Stress Supplements: 6 To Try For A Calmer 2022 - British Vogue

Chances are you're reading this during a rare moment of calm. Reclining, with your phone on silent, it's probably as close as you get to zen. But the reality is that you don't get these moments often and that you're one of 74 per cent of UK adults who, according to the Mental Health Foundation, say they have been so stressed in the past year that they've felt overwhelmed and unable to cope.

Synonymous with modern life and how we live it, the stress response associated with chronic stress (or fight or flight mode – which prompts a faster heart rate and breath, surge in stress hormones such as adrenaline and cortisol, and greater alertness) is activated so often that the parasympathetic nervous system (responsible for rest and digest mode) doesn't have a chance to activate enough – leaving you feeling permanently wired.

Triggered by everything from long working hours to social media, if you're feeling burnt out, suffer from digestive problems, have poor concentration, heart palpitations, shortness of breath, headaches or tension, go to the toilet a lot or have trouble sleeping, chances are you're chronically stressed. And you're not alone. 

Acclaimed British acupuncturist, Ross J. Barr, confirms that the number of clientele coming through his doors suffering this very modern malady has risen from 20 per cent a year ago, to 80 per cent today. "People are suffering from anxiety and raised levels of cortisol and adrenaline, which were designed to help us risk assess and evade danger in the early days of humanity. Now, if we run on them too much, they cause us to worry, catastrophise and struggle to find inner peace," he says. "Those with ultra raised levels can't sit and watch Netflix without compulsively checking their phone – it's the feeling that you always need to be doing something else." 

If you're reading this thinking it sounds familiar, then you might also be finding that what occurs in the body also makes its way out to the skin too – increased cortisol causes inflammation, which is the culprit behind myriad skin conditions, from acne to rashes. "The stress response alters the production and breakdown of collagen and elastin, both of which are part of the skin's building blocks; the loss of which can result in lines and dullness," says psychodermatologist Alia Ahmed, who has also noticed an increase in stress-related skin conditions, like psoriasis and eczema, in her clinic. Ahmed joins a roster of psychotherapists who are now consulting on the effects that our emotions have on our skin to inform skin treatments.