یو بینک ہوم لون - گورنمنٹ مارک اپ سبسڈی اسکیم

When it rains, it pours. You’ve got a hellacious deadline at work, you haven’t done laundry in weeks (bikini bottoms as underwear, again), and…your skin’s itchy? Weird, definitely, but if this sounds familiar, it’s not a fluke—it’s fact, says a new study in the International Journal of Dermatology.

Let us explain: Stress activates the hippocampus, the same area of your brain in which itch signals are also processed. While you can’t do anything about the connection itself, OTC sedative antihistamines, such as diphenhydramine, can actually pull one over on your brain by soothing the regions that sense relief when you scratch, so you can get a little release without raking your skin with your germ-harboring nails (ick!).

That said, the best long-term solution is to quit sending your body into freak-out mode altogether. And you totally can, even if drawn-out meditation sessions aren’t your thing.

“The next time you find yourself panicking or reacting to a situation with anxiety, consciously slow your breath,” says mindfulness expert Mallika Chopra, author of Living with Intent. “Inhale to the count of three, and exhale to the count of three. Even doing this three times in a moment of panic can shift how you approach a situation.”

If our thoughts become a little saner in the name of chilling out our skin, that’s a side effect we can live with.