Britons spend around 16,848 hours of their lives worrying about their spending and borrowing levels, a new report has revealed.

A study conducted on behalf of Co-operative Financial Services discovered almost one in two of the people it surveyed report feeling either concerned or "deeply" concerned over debt.

This causes such fear that they spend hours stressing about it – leading to the equivalent of two years or 730 sleepless nights wasted through worrying.

Scott McPhail, savings product manager at the Co-operative Bank said the results are "worrying".

"The vast majority of UK adults are deeply concerned about their finances, with rising levels of debt and inadequate saving provisions responsible for countless sleepless nights nationwide," he warned.

Recent research conducted by MoneyExpert showed as many as one in three people with debt are worried about their ability to maintain repayments and manage their finances.

Furthermore, 47 per cent of adults owe money on cards, a rise from the 41 per cent noted three months ago.