​Baking Relief

• 80% of Brits admit to using baking as an antidote to combat increasing stress levels

                                                                                                                                                                                         
According to a recent survey by baking decoration specialist, Cake Angels, 1 in 3 of brits are feeling more stressed today than they did five years ago and 80% of us are turning to baking to help alleviate the increased pressure

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The new research commissioned ahead of Great Comic Relief Bake Off which starts tomorrow, found winter in particularly, is when tensions are most stray and when the UK decides to take to the whisking bowl and knead away their worries.
 
The normally more relaxed Scots and people of the North East are the ones who have seen their anxiety levels rise by up to 57% in the past five years to meet those of the frazzled South East. Coincidentally they're the same locations which have both seen a 60% rise in baking.
 
Money tops the reasons why we feel most stressed, with a quarter of us (27%) feeling the pinch on our pocket, whereby job pressure comes in second (16%) and health worries came in a tight third with 15% of us admitting our wellbeing plays on our minds.
 
John Whaite, winner of the Great British Bake Off 2012 and ambassador for Cake Angels said, "It's great that people are finding an escape in the form of baking. I found baking a calming influence on me without knowing that was what it was doing."
 
"It's nice to know that something as simple as making a cake has such a major effect on our emotions and adding finishing touches such as sprinkles to your creation can give you a sense of pride and enhance how you're feeling."
 
Alexandra Balzaretti at Cake Angels said, "The new research confirms something which we at Cake Angels have known for a while; that baking is no longer just a ad-hoc hobby and stands for something much greater.
 
"It's important that baking is recognised for its emotionally rewarding benefits and its ability to offer an escape to someone from the pressures of every day life, whatever that may be."
 
The survey also found that women are seeing increased stress levels with 57% of them feeling more tension than five years ago where as only 35% of men have seen an increase in the same time period. This may be down to the fact that 5 million British men* are baking at least once per week since the start of the Great British Bake Off in 2010.