I’ve tried meditating and breathing through everyday anxieties, but the only thing that has genuinely helped reduce the severity of stress attacks is walking or running in nature, listening to incredibly loud music or Radio 4 podcasts. There’s nothing mindful about it: my coping mechanism is to block out the thoughts and exhaust the body. It works wonders – far better than previous attempts to follow meditations on various apps.

And there’s a growing body of research to suggest I’m far from being alone in not finding meditation in particular to be the stress panacea people claim. A 2019 paper published in Plos One found that a quarter of regular meditators experienced adverse effects, including panic attacks and depression. Another study found that people who went on an eight-week mindfulness course and who meditated for over 30 minutes a day tended to have worse sleep quality than those who spent less time being mindful. Of course, meditation and mindfulness aren’t the same thing – you may meditate to be more mindful in your every day life – but those studies show where all that internal focus can lead us.

Stressful mindfulness: “I’m done with mindfully eating, moving and sleeping – here’s why”