Aromatherapists take over

The number of aromatherapists listed in the Yellow Pages has exploded by more than 5,000 per cent over the past decade.

The dramatic rise makes aromatherapy - the use of scents and oils to cure stress and other ailments - the fastest-growing category in the business directory.

A survey of Yellow Pages listings since 1992 shows that entries for pampering and self-improvement services have dramatically increased while traditional local food shops are rapidly disappearing.

After aromatherapists come cosmetic surgery services, up by 1,780 per cent, followed by dieting and weight control services (1,445 per cent), make-up artists and services (1,007 per cent), reflexology (829 per cent) and Alexander Technique consultants (724 per cent).

Mental wellbeing is also a fastgrowing area, with a 204 per cent increase in entries for psychotherapists and analysts.

Counselling services saw a 93 per cent rise, while the number of hypnotherapists-rose by 129 per cent. Of new categories appearing since 1992, the fastest growth was among shiatsu massage practitioners with a 3,100 per cent rise since 1996.

Meanwhile, traditional shops such as greengrocers, butchers and bakers are vanishing from the Yellow Pages telephone directory.

Listings for greengrocers have collapsed by almost 60 per cent,

according to the survey by the directory's publisher, Yell. This is the fastest rate of decline for any type of business.

Butchers saw a 40 per cent fall, followed by hardware retailers (down 34 per cent) and bakers (20 per cent). Farmers were down 29 per cent, gamekeepers 21 per cent.

Over the same period the number of entries for shopping centres has risen 152 per cent and supermarkets by eight per cent.

Dr Tim Leunig, a lecturer in economic history at the London School of Economics, who analysed the figures for Yell, said: "If we're no longer a nation of butchers, bakers and candlestick makers what are we?

"It seems as if we have moved not only beyond the basic necessities of life but almost beyond goods themselves, so the areas of growth are things that make us feel better about ourselves.

"Rather than trying to keep up with the Jones's, we're trying to keep up with ourselves, and with the pressures of modern life."

Meanwhile, a separate scientific report out today suggests that stress - the lifestyle gurus' top target - could help keep some us young and happy, and even improve memory.

A study of military personnel, in the Archives of General Psychiatry, says that under extreme pressure some people produce far greater quantities than others of stress hormones - proven to slow ageing, enhance memory and cut depression.

Dr Charles Morgan, of the National Centre for Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, in New England, suggested hormone supplements could be developed to help people cope with stress.