One in four adults still sleep with the light on – and a fifth run upstairs if it’s dark! Poll reveals millions of us have never managed to shake our childhood fears

A quarter of adults still sleep with the light on, according to a poll.

Meanwhile, roughly 18 per cent are terrified to sleep with their feet hanging out the duvet and a similar amount run upstairs if it’s dark.

The findings come from a survey of more than 2,000 adults, that also revealed that half of adults are still scared of the dark.

Psychologists said it was proof that ‘our inner child stays with us throughout life’.

Jo Hemmings, a member of The British Psychological Society, said: ‘Unfortunately this can mean irrational fears and anxieties we had as kids manifest themselves in later life.

‘The fear of the dark is common in childhood because it’s a primitive behavioural instinct that instils fear and anxiety when there are no reassuring sights or soothing sounds to make sense of the world. 

‘It usually decreases with age as children understand that while it may be dark, they are not actually alone, and their caring adults have not disappeared.

‘Adults may associate darkness with the inability to be in control – if we can’t see, we may fear bad things happening to us in the night, which we are unprepared for and our fear becomes a defence mechanism, where our brains during the waking period are on high alert and our imaginations can go into overdrive.’

The research was commissioned by Netflix ahead of the release of Orion and the Dark, an animated film about a boy who is terrified of the dark.

Forty-one per cent admitted that they don’t like spending a night alone in their own house. 

If there is an unusual noise downstairs, many will persuade their partner to take a look (13 per cent) with many believing creaking pipes are ghosts in the night. 

But the average Brit doesn’t just fear the dark, they also experience about five bad dreams a month, with many waking up with a start three times a month.

Four in ten say they often wake up in a cold sweat after a nightmare, with 16 per cent regularly waking their partner up by screaming.

One in ten (10 percent) have even lashed out at their other half while asleep while experiencing a bad dream.

Nightmares people reported included being chased (28 per cent), falling from a great height (26 per cent), teeth falling out (15 per cent).