Did you know that seven in 10 Brits  (73%) have experienced heightened levels of unease over the past 18 months. That in itself, is a staggering number! This pandemic has left a number of us experiencing greater levels of stress and worry more than ever before. Our constant search for calm and tranquility has become more and more difficult due to the repercussions of the past 18 months. Finding our way back to what was normality, has now become a journey we are on together. 

 

CiiTECH, the consumer-focused cannabis healthcare company behind leading UK CBD brand Provacan, has found that 7 in ten people in Britain have experienced more stress than usual due to the pandemic, rising to 8 in 10 18–24-year-olds (86%). 

 

Here’s several statistics we have pulled together to fully understand the concerns and issues that have overwhelmed us during this difficult period.

 

Keep Calm, Don’t Stress

 

Finding and maintaining balance is easier said than done. Stress is part of our lives, the key is learning how to manage it, giving the right weight to situations and not being too hard on oneself.

 

  • Ciitech finds that 66% of people are unable to describe how they are actually feeling, answering to a common question like ‘how are you’ is said to be the most untruthful reply, as the burden of explanation creates discomfort for 68% of Brits.

 

  • 65% of people feel they are misunderstood by those around them, 24% were told to “cheer up” and 40% were told that they will be “fine”.

 

  • 51% of Brits have reportedly encountered sleep problems due to high levels of unease, 37% had a churning feeling in their stomach, 31% felt restless or unable to keep still and 25% experienced sweating and hot flushes.

 

  • 45% of adults have felt unable to go about their daily routine, 51% say that their usual tasks seem bigger that what they really are. On average the research has shown that the average Brit experienced more than 6 days of uneasiness a month bringing a total of 108 days over the past 18 months.

 

  • 49% of adults experiencing this had major difficulty when confiding in their partners and friends.

 

  • Interestingly, 27% of people who hadn’t experienced feelings of unease and stress found it tough to sympathize with those that had.

 

With all this agitation and distress, Brits are craving ‘calmness’, now more than ever before. It’s sought to be challenging to find our inner zen, considering all the events and heavy baggage we carry with us. 75% of people are looking for ways to promote calm in their lives, this includes, daily exercise, having a proper routine and experimenting with new products that have calming properties and effects in them.

 

What do the experts say?

 

Clifton Flack, CEO of CiiTECH, tells us: 

 

“The research shows that Brits have been experiencing lots of unease and greater levels of panic, amplified by the pandemic. But it’s very hard to understand if you have never experienced it. We want to try and make these feelings more visible and accessible to all, so those experiencing unrest feel they have a support network around them.”

 

The Journey to Calm

 

Introducing the Journey to Calm, a bespoke artwork which showcases the transition from unease to calm, to help people deepen their understanding of what these moments feel like.

 

CiiTECH has teamed up with Britain’s Got Talent artist, Nathan Wyburn, to bring to life these feelings and emotions, through art. Inspired by real life stories and experiences, everything from colours, textures, and shapes delivers different sensations to every individual.

 

  • 27% said the colour black represented uneasiness, using the world ‘knotted’ to better describe the feeling.

 

This inspiring artwork took 7 hours to finalize, it incorporates conventional and non-conventional materials which include charcoal, pain, cassette tape, nails and bottle tops. Over 1,000 people voted the colours and textures to be used expressing their own personal feelings.

 

Here’s a few words from the artist Nathan Wyburn:

 

“It’s been an honour to use my experience of suffering with personal anxiety to create this Journey To Calm. The series of images are a mixture of textures, feelings, colours and emotions to attempt a visualisation of what it feels like from one extreme to the other. 

 

Sticking to my niche of using everyday materials such as bottle tops, cassette tape, nails, cotton and sun cream it’s also a nod to my previous work and style. Art helps me feel calm, it’s my release, so I hope this piece can bring clarity and help explain the journey to you –  the viewer.” 

 

All inspired by real life stories of those looking for tranquility and calm in their life, Art of Provacan brings to life, feelings, emotions and depicts Nathan’s personal journey to calm that is relatable to all of us.

 

The artwork is available to view at www.artofprovacan.com

 

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