Brits spend more than six years worrying about weight, dying phones and being home for deliveries

Flustered Brits waste 17 and a half hours a week '“ or six and a half years of their lives '“ fretting about often trivial worries that mostly never happen, a new study reveals.

The most bothersome problems range from not sleeping enough and personal appearance to being at home to collect a parcel.

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The biggest worriers are 36-year-olds, who typically spend three and a half hours a day stressing, and one in 10 admit they spend seven hours or more fretting each day.

But by the age of 44 and over we have learned to calm down, fretting for just one hour and 42 minutes a day.

The survey also highlighted how needless our worries tend to be with Brits typically admitting that half of their concerns are totally out of their hands.

Not only do people worry about sleeping enough but they actually lose sleep from fretting over often trivial troubles. We typically lose four hours and 40 minutes each week '“ the equivalent of a lost night's sleep every 12 days.

Weight worries

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Perhaps the lest surprising stat is that more than half of Brits most often worry about their weight, while over a third are concerned by discoloured teeth and a similar number fret over looking tired.

Less rational is the fact that Brits typically start worrying about their phone battery dying when it reaches 31 per cent of capacity - but one in 20 is already vexed when there is still 85 per cent charge remaining.

Tell-tale '˜tics' when Brits are worrying include chewing finger nails (22 per cent), bouncing legs while seated (19 per cent), chewing the bottom lip (16 per cent) and playing with hair (14 per cent).

Hairdressers are revealed as the nation's unlikely therapists with almost one in five (21 per cent) Brits having confided in their stylist, followed by bar staff (11 per cent).

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The most common cures for our worries include listening to music, having a hug and that most British of 'cures' - a nice cup of tea.

The national worry audit of 2,000 British adults was commissioned by TV channel Dave to launch a new series, 'Jon Richardson: Ultimate Worrier' which sees the obsessive worrier and compulsive organiser attempt to analyse, assess and log every single one of his many worries.

The show airs tonight (May 16).

Brits' top 20 daily worries:

Not getting enough sleep '“ 39%Personal appearance '“ 28%Being in when a parcel is due to arrive '“ 26%Leaving the windows/door unlocked '“ 23%Phone battery dying '“ 22%Losing keys '“ 21%What to wear '“ 20%No Wi-Fi '“ 19%Losing wallet '“ 19%The weather '“ 19%Body odour '“ 17%Guilt snacking '“ 16%Traffic '“ 16%Getting stuck in a queue '“ 16%Getting to work on time '“ 15%Finding a parking spot '“ 14%Missing the bus/train '“ 13%Running out of toilet paper '“ 11%Eating '˜5 a day' '“ 11%Work meetings/presentations '“ 11%