It's official - women spend most of their time lying awake at night because of financial worries, while men are kept awake by... 'nothing.'

In a new survey, women were asked what keeps them up at night - and the number one answer, from 30 percent of the women, was financial worries. 35 percent of men, however, said 'nothing.'

The Manilla.com study looked at the habits of 1000 average wage-earning women and men in the US.

The second most common reason for women lying awake at night, at 18 percent, was put down to 'to-do lists' and work stress.

Linda Descano of Women & Co. told Manilla.com: 'With today's busy lifestyles, keeping on top of one's personal finances can seem daunting in the face of the many demands in life.

'And with 66 percent of women now serving as CFO of their household, according to Women & Co. research, it's not surprising there is more to keep them up at night.'

The findings would come as no surprise to some social scientists - and, indeed, working mothers.

Arlie Russell Hochschild's seminal 1989 work, The Second Shift, lifted the lid on the imbalance between women's and men's workloads.

The study showed, for the first time, that household chores remained mainly the responsibility of working women.

A recent Time study pointed out that household habits have changed to the advantage of women, and, according to The Huffington Post, yet other studies show that household chores are linked to high blood pressure.

Personal finance expert, Manisha Thakor, told Mint.com that the picture is greyer yet for women.

The financial stresses they face are exacerbated by living an average of 5 to 7 years longer than men, earning just 77cents for each male dollar and working for 11.5 fewer years than men because of caring for babies and elderly parents, she said.

The new survey also revealed that women are more acutely affected by being disorganised than men. '73 percent of women say they are frustrated by disorganization, compared to just 59 percent of men,' said Manilla.com.

'When organized, 50 percent of women say they feel relaxed and 40 percent say they feel happy. That compares to 41 percent and 37 percent of men respectively,' it said.

(Read by Christine Mallari. Christine Mallari is a journalist at the China Daily Website.)

點擊查看更多雙語新聞

(Agencies)