Hundreds of thousands of people are facing sleepless nights because of their personal debts, new analysis from Citizens Advice Scotland (CAS) suggests.

The charity's analysis of YouGov polling showed that 74 per cent of people in debt over the past year claim the money owed affects their ability to sleep.

Since last spring, Citizens Advice Bureaus (CAB) have written off an excess of £11 million worth of debt, with an average write-off amounting to over £12,600 per client.

Sarah-Jayne Dunn, financial health spokesperson at CAS, said: "Debt can have a severe impact on our mental wellbeing and that anxiety and stress can keep people up at night.

"What this research suggests is that is widespread problem.

“After years of higher costs for food, energy, and housing for millions it is completely understandable that people have found themselves in debt and are worried about it.

“Our network gets real results for people – last year people who saw a gain having sought advice were more than £3,700 better off. Our advice is impartial, confidential and crucially free – we don’t charge for our advice, and we never will.”

CAS has launched a campaign titled Stressed about Debt encouraging individuals with debt-related worries to seek advice from the Citizens Advice network.

The support available at www.cas.org.uk/stressed includes online self-help tools, online advice pages or one to one advice from their Citizens Advice Bureaus (CAB).

Alex Cumming, executive director of operations at Scottish Action for Mental Health, said: “Sleep and mental health are closely related. A lack of sleep can contribute to mental health problems, and mental health problems can make it more difficult to sleep. It’s not surprising that stress about debt and money is impacting on people’s sleep.

“There are ways to improve your sleep. Seeking help with debt problems is one of them. It’s also worth trying to develop a routine, to relax before bedtime, to do more physical activity during the day, and to consider how you use your phone or other mobile devices before you go to bed.”