Listen: festive guilt may be more common than you think

The nation has marked December 22nd as the most stressful day of the festive period, with stress reaching its pinnacle at approximately 12:25pm.

According to a new poll almost two thirds of Brits (62%) find the festive season to be a particularly stressful time of year with the most significant causes of stress cited as financial stresses (73%), buying gifts for people (61%), and hosting friends/family (31%). In fact, virtually two thirds of us (64%) admit we wish we could escape our usual routine to make our own plans this year. Of those who don’t do it, the most common excuses are not wanting to let people down, it being too expensive, and guilt about not being with family.

The study by KAYAK, the world’s leading travel search engine, shows that the most stressful day of the festive period is 22nd December, whilst search trends data shows the three days leading up to it are actually the most affordable days to travel before Christmas based on average price. The average person expects to spend around £1079 over the festive period across buying gifts, entertaining, socialising, decorating and travelling to see friends and family – more than enough to fly to a beautiful location such as Marrakech or Paris for 6 nights during this time.

Aston spoke to university lecturer Dr Jennifer Murphy and Evan Day, UK country manager at KAYAK.