Serve up whole body stress management at the shelf

Written By the Jamieson Wellness Education Team: Danielle O’Connor ND, Angela Ysseldyk CNP And Kaery Lall Marketing Director, Go-To-Market

Since the pandemic, 66% of adults across the world, report higher levels of stress.[i] With the end in sight, the reality remains that we live in an overly stressed out society. The mental and physical toll of stress can range from mild to catastrophic, making it an ongoing concern for Canadians. In fact, even a year before the pandemic, over 20% of Canadian adults reported being quite a bit or extremely stressed on most days.[ii] The need for stress management is a real one and it isn’t just about managing through the obvious symptoms, rather people are discovering that stress is impacting them in multiple areas of daily living. As health care practitioners, we see stressed out Canadians every day and below we will demonstrate some key areas where retailers can offer their shopper some stress-busting solutions.

There is no question, supplements have a powerful effect on health. Stress effects the whole body, such as increased anxiety,ⁱ insomnia and sleep issues[iii]as well as immune issues[iv], to name a few. In the health care field, we see that stress goes beyond feeling jittery in the moment and can have lasting effects. While we want to ensure there are specific supplements for stress management, it is important to understand the other (lesser known) categories the consumer may not realize are related to stress.

Taking a whole health approach with your customers helps to meet them where they are, in store and online. Including prompts such as shelf layout, navigational support, such as colour coding and iconography and educational support can help guide consumers through their path to purchase.

Consumers are looking for stress management products. Within natural health supplements (NHS), stress support has grown by 55%, or $1.5 million from 2019 to 2020.[v] Some core supplements to support the stress response include:

Adaptogens and formulas with specific stress claims –including mushrooms and herbals such as Ashwagandha, Rhodiola, and Siberian Ginseng.[vi] [vii]

Vitamins and minerals – including B vitamins[viii], vitamin C[ix] and magnesium[x].

It always comes back to the consumer and addressing their needs. In this case, as practitioners we see many downstream effects of stress that relate to digestive complaints, sleep issues, inflammation, brain health and overall foundational deficiencies. Therefore, there is opportunity across categories to help support these related complaints and help consumers understand the association with chronic stress. This takes a whole-body approach. Some include:

Digestive Health

Sleep Supplements

Joint Health (for inflammation related to stress)

Multi-Vitamins/Minerals

Brain/Cognitive Health

Consumers are becoming more aware of their health and are prioritizing their well-being more than ever before, and stress management has become a day-to-day health and wellness habit and regime.

There are steps you can take to meet consumers where they are and serve up whole-body stress management at shelf.

Partner with key brands who have addressed this need across their product portfolios and have the tools to educate, and support in-store and out of store efforts.

Set up shelf sets ‘’intuitively’’ with specific stress management category products.

Consider prompts to move across categories and help connect the dots. Connect cross-functional lifestyle and stress management tips along the way or set up secondary placement within areas like exercise/sports, meditation apps, etc.

References:

[i] Qualitrics. (2020, April 14). Retrieved from Qualtrics: https://www.qualtrics.com/blog/confronting-mental-health/

[ii] https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/t1/tbl1/en/tv.action?pid=1310009604

[iii] Âkerstedt, T. (2006). Psychosocial stress and impaired sleep. Scandinavian Journal of Work, Environment & Health, 32(6), 493-501. Retrieved March 24, 2020, from www.jstor.org/stable/4096760

[iv] Padgett, D. A., & Glaser, R. (2003). How stress influences the immune response. Trends in Immunology, 24(8), 444-448. doi:http://dx.doi.org.proxy.library.brocku.ca/10.1016/S1471-4906(03)00173-X 

[v] Neilson. National Excl Nfld GB+DR+MM. Latest 52 weeks | Period Ending 4WE Dec 26, 2020.

[vi] Panossian, A., & Wikman, G. (2010). Effects of Adaptogens on the Central Nervous System and the Molecular Mechanisms Associated with Their Stress-Protective Activity. Pharmaceuticals (Basel, Switzerland), 3(1), 188–224. https://doi.org/10.3390/ph3010188

[vii] Vinod S Pawar, Hugar Shivakumar (2012) A current status of adaptogens: natural remedy to stress, Asian Pacific Journal of Tropical Disease, Volume 2, Supplement 1, https://doi.org/10.1016/S2222-1808(12)60207-2

[viii] Young, L. M., Pipingas, A., White, D. J., Gauci, S., & Scholey, A. (2019). A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of B Vitamin Supplementation on Depressive Symptoms, Anxiety, and Stress: Effects on Healthy and ‘At-Risk’ Individuals. Nutrients, 11(9), 2232. https://doi.org/10.3390/nu11092232

[ix] Bettina Moritz, at al (2020) The role of vitamin C in stress-related disorders, The Journal of Nutritional Biochemistry, Volume 85,108459, ISSN 0955-2863, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jnutbio.2020.108459

[x] Vink R, Nechifor M, editors. (2011) Magnesium in the Central Nervous System [Internet]. Adelaide (AU): University of Adelaide Press; 2011. Available from: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK507264/