Far from zen

I saw it in the faces of the friends I exchanged silly selfies with to break up a long day in lockdown. The knackered mum pulling a sobbing-emoji face while trying to home-school three kids. The front-line nurse whose dark, bloodshot eyes peered at me over a medical mask. The colleague selfisolating with only two new cystic spots for company.

“Stress triggers the fightor-flight response that kept our primal ancestors alive for thousands of years,” explains dermatologist Dr Stefanie Williams. You might not be fleeing a prehistoric animal, but your brain doesn’t waste time weighing up the threat before sounding the alarm. Whether it’s a red letter from your bank, a scary film or an unsettling news report, your body’s