GRINDING TEETH

Stress: The crisis is being blamed for an upswing in stressed-out people grinding their teeth together. “It was two months ago we started noticing it,” says Keith Cohen, a dentist practising in Harley Street and the City. “Stress is one of the factors commonly implicated in people grinding their teeth.” It can have unpleasant consequences: ground-down teeth can lead to gum and nerve damage, and a great deal of pain. “It affects the whole of the mastication system,” says Cohen. “It can give you jaw and muscle problems as well.” The problem is not confined to London. Alexander Jones, a Yorkshire dentist, says: “We’ve seen an increase in people with pain around the jaw and snapping the corners off teeth, probably around 10-15% since the summer. They’re both an indication of grinding teeth at night, and that’s generally about stress.”

ESCAPISM

Laughter: There is big demand for comedy DVDs. Lovefilm, the online DVD rental service, has reported a 40% jump. Top of the list is the caustic humour of the Blackadder series, right.

Booze: Ocado, the online supermarket that delivers Waitrose products, reports a 15% increase in sales of wines costing more than £10 and a decrease in sales of bottles at less than £5. Champagne sales have gone up by 13%.

Hypnosis: Monica Black, a hypnotherapist in north London who used to work in the City, is feeling the impact of the anxiety. She says: “A lot of people in the financial sector are so stressed and nervous about their performance and about their jobs being on the line that my clients have more than doubled. I help them realise it’s not actually so terrible; these people are not going to be homeless.”

THE NEW THRIFT

Charity: The middle classes, who dumped all their unwanted clothes and kitchenware on charity shops in the good times, have stopped donating and are returning to pick up bargains. Save the Children, which has more than 120 shops across the UK, has seen such an upsurge in sales that it is running out of stock and is appealing for more donations.

Warmth: As energy bills rise, people are turning to old-fashioned ways of keeping warm. John Lewis says sales of hot water bottles are up 247% compared to this time last year, and sales of electric blankets have risen by 81%. Thermal pants are up by only 5%, though.

Make and mend: Timpson’s, the High Street chain, says watch repairs are up 17% and shoe repairs 4%. James Timpson, a director, says: “The average person owns something like 2.3 watches. If the glass breaks or the watch gets damaged people are deciding to get it repaired rather than spending a few hundred pounds on a new watch.”

Transport: Car insurance companies have reported a downturn in claims as drivers are having fewer accidents, probably because they are driving less often and are travelling more slowly. Some have given up owning cars altogether. Argos reports a 300% rise in sales of its £99 fold-up bike in three months. And people have been signing up in droves to hire cars by the hour from car clubs.

A member of a scheme in Norwich, where cars that are left around the city can be hired for £5 an hour, reports: “I costed it out and I think I am saving around £1,500 a year compared to keeping my old Rover. The costs that came with keeping and using my own car were just too large to justify.”

Holiday: In the past three months, holiday lettings websites have seen a 400% increase in the number of properties on offer. Much of it is coming from people who bought second homes abroad being forced into the rental market to pay for increased bills at home. Gary Taylor remortgaged his family home in Northwich, Cheshire, last year to buy a holiday flat in the Canary Islands. He is now letting the flat to pay for his rising mortgage costs in Britain.

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