MORE than half of people in the UK live in fear of being without their mobile phones, a new study has found.

With consumers increasingly dependent on phones, the report suggests women are more likely to experience the anxiety than men.

One fifth of mobile phone owners check their emails in bed and nearly half (42%) take them to the beach while on holiday.

Some 54% of people worry about being "out of mobile phone contact" - with women 17% more likely to suffer from "nomophobia", the survey revealed.

It showed 28% of people look at their work emails while away from home.

A quarter of people even consult their phones during a dinner date - with women 10% more likely to do so than men. But only 50% secure their devices with a password, the study for web security firm AppRiver found.