City News

3:00 in the morning: That's the time nagging questions are most likely to wake the people of Birmingham and destroy a good night's sleep.

A new YouGov survey, commissioned by Ask.com has revealed that nine out of ten people in Birmingham (87 per cent) have had their sleep disturbed recently by concerns ranging from the credit crunch… to how to poach the perfect egg.

It’s also set to get worse, as in today’s complex world half of us (50 per cent) worry more about the answers to questions today than we did ten years ago.

The main nagging questions troubling Birmingham residents include:

Money: 28% want to know how to reduce debts and 37% want to know how to reduce household bills and nearly one in ten (nine per cent) want to grow their own vegetables or inserting solar panels into their home (10 per cent). And watch out Alan Sugar - over a quarter of us (29 per cent) lie awake wondering how we can become a millionaire!

Body beautiful: Two fifths (40 per cent) want to know how to lose weight while one in ten (8 per cent) is wondering how to build muscle. Four per cent ponder over whether or not to get cosmetic surgery such as botox.

Quality of life: 13 per cent want to know where the best place to live in the UK is and 18 per cent want to give it all up and move to the country. 11 per cent want to know how to write a CV.

Other trivia puzzling the people of Birmingham includes:
•    Almost two fifths (18 per cent) want to know where the name Birmingham comes from
•    One in ten (12 per cent) are puzzled why people from Birmingham are called Brummies
•    Five per cent contemplate where they can get the hottest curry in Birmingham
•    Over a half (53 per cent) wonder what their dreams mean
•    Almost one third (32 per cent) speculate why yawns are contagious

Behavioral psychologist Martin Goodyear comments; "With improvements in communication and twenty four hour news, we are bombarded with more and more information to keep us awake at night - but with the Internet and search engines like Ask.com it is much easier for us to find solutions and answers to our questions – no matter what the time of day or night.”

The survey also reveals that one in ten of us (10 per cent) are so desperate to know the answer to a question that we will get up and search for the answer online.

However, it's not just the early hours that see us worrying - nagging questions plague Brummies at all sorts of times. For example, nine per cent of us claim that we get driven to distraction whilst in the car, one in ten (10 per cent) find our mind wanders whilst watching TV and six per cent think about important life decisions at work.

So where are Birmingham residents turning to find the answers to these nagging questions? It seems that 95 per cent of us have now abandoned old fashioned books and encyclopedias and over half of us (56 per cent) are most likely to turn to sophisticated online search engines.

Cesar Mascaraque, European MD of leading search engine Ask.com comments:
"With sites like the new Ask.com using improved technology to deliver the best answers first time, every time, it's no wonder over a quarter (27 per cent) cite the Internet as their most important source for getting answers to their nagging questions.”

And if the Internet tops the poll as the best problem solver, then who is the greatest questioner of all time according to Birmingham residents? Almost one six of us (14 per cent) claim that Einstein asked the best questions, closely followed by Aristotle (11 per cent) and modern day question king Jeremy Paxman (nine per cent). And we all know that mums can nag at times so it's not surprising that eight per cent think that their mother deserves the title.

The ten questions that Birmingham residents most want to know the answers to:

1.    How can I lose weight? (40 per cent)
2.    How do I reduce the cost of my household bills? (37 per cent)
3.    How do I become a millionaire? (29 per cent)
4.    How can I reduce my debt? (28 per cent)
5.    Should I give it all up and move to the country? (18 per cent)
6.    Why are we having wet summers? (17 per cent)
= 7.    How much is my house worth (13 per cent)
= 7.    Where is the best place to live in the UK? (13 per cent)
9.    How do I write a CV (9 per cent)
= 10.  What is the best restaurant in the local area (eight per cent)
= 10.  How do tell my partner I’ve been unfaithful (eight per cent)