Family and social life is being severely hit by the UK's long hours culture, a report has warned.

A survey of 500 office staff showed many workers were too tired to have a drink with friends, go to the gym or play with their children.

One in five could not even stay awake in the evening to watch TV or read a book and one in eight had been too shattered to eat dinner, according to the research for recruitment group Pertemps.

Stress and long working hours were the main reasons for the high level of fatigue.

Almost half those polled said they regularly dreamt about work, including "anxiety dreams" such as arguing with the boss or walking through their office with no clothes on.

Janet McGlaughlin, a director of Pertemps, said: "Our research is worrying as it shows job pressures are impacting on many people's work-life balance.

"Longer hours are partly to blame but stress was by far the most common cause identified - with dreaming about work being an obvious symptom."

Wednesday September 22, 2004