1 in 3 women 'too tired for sex'

One in three women are too tired for sex because the pressures of modern life leave them stressed out, according to new figures.

The strain of juggling home and work is proving too much for both mothers and single women, with many admitting they live in a "permanent state of shredded nerves". Of 1,000 women questioned by the magazine Good Housekeeping, more than 95 per cent also suffer from symptoms such as panic attacks and migraines.

The figures will re-ignite controversy over whether Britain's long-hours culture at work puts women employees at a disadvantage because they often have to manage a household too.

Yet many feel that while women's role in society has grown over the past 50 years, the average workplace has changed little to accommodate it, acting as an all-male environment. Many women believe that their lives are more stressful than those of their male colleagues. And many men think a woman's place is still in the home.

Editor-in-chief Lindsay Nicholson said: "How did the brave new world of Having It All turn into the hellish treadmill of Having To Do It All? We're fighting for the right for women to have manageable lives. Is that too much to ask?"

Social commentator Polly Toynbee added: "Good Housekeeping has tapped into a cry of pain that is a genuine crisis point in women's lives."

Women's fertility 'declines in their 20s'
Caesareans at new high
Workers spend 16 weeks going to the office
'Sex is okay' message is wrong