“What’s really novel here is that this research shows that actually a simple dietary swap can really reduce this the stress impact, or the impact that stress has on our health.”

There are other reasons why nuts can help boost our mental health – and it’s all to do with the gut. Nuts have very rigid cell walls, Dr Berry explains, and while we can break some of the cell walls down to absorb the nutrients, a lot of them remain intact. “You’re giving a lot more material to your gut, which improves your microbiome and your gut health, which we know does have a big impact on mental health as well,” Dr Berry adds.

Remember, a huge proportion on our serotonin (the happy hormone) is made in the gut – so if you feed that with the right kinds of nutrients, it may benefit mood.

Eating nuts like almonds can help your body to deal with stress – here's why scientists recommend it