Financial woes cause sleep problems for seven million

One in seven adults can’t sleep because of financial difficulties and debt

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Money worries are keeping more than 7 million adults awake at night new research published today suggests.

Around one in seven of us can’t sleep because of financial difficulties and it’s having a detrimental impact on their lives, according to a debt charity.

Problems that develop include a lack of concentration, finding it hard to focus at work and it also hits relationships with family and friends.

StepChange chief executive Mike O’Connor said: “Millions of people are being kept awake due to money worries, but they can impact on every aspect of a person’s life, from mental health problems, to relationship difficulties and to being able to do a good job at work.”

People with money worries are losing an average of 11 nights’ sleep a year, reckons the charity. The top finance-related things worrying people are a lack of savings, the costs of essential household bills and debt problems.

The charity has launched a Need to Sleep campaign to encourage people to recognise the impact long-term sleeplessness has on their well-being and address the root cause by seeking help with their money problems.

The charity’s research revealed the impact of money-related sleep problems on people’s lives: 61 percent said it affected their ability to concentrate; 32 percent said it affected their ability to get work done, to stay awake during the day and to look after themselves; 29 percent said it impacted on their relationship with their partner or spouse; 28 percent said that it impacted on their relationships with friends and family.

On top of that, lack of sleep carries an emotional toll with respondents saying that they felt frustrated (62 per cent), worried (55 per cent), helpless (39 per cent) and lonely (34 per cent).