According to a common myth we are born with just two innate fears – falling and loud noises. Anything else we’re phobic of as adults is owing to experience. We can be scared of ‘common’ animals, insects, places, situations and sensations, which have so many of us either freezing rigid or getting very upset about. While a fear of the dark is perhaps something we associate more with childhood, not all of us grow out of it – and it’s not, in fact, just a hangover from being young.

Also known in its extreme forms as nyctophobia or achluphobia, our fear of the dark is not based on conditioning. It’s universal and innate. According to a magazine, it’s not the darkness itself which terrifies us, it’s what the darkness may be hiding, leaving us vulnerable and exposed.

Just think of the horror films which play on being stalked, hunted and observed either at night or during something like a power cut. A survey found that about 40 percent of its respondents admitted to being scared to walk around their own homes without a light on, reports a site.

“An individual may not be able to fall asleep once it’s dark and their mind starts to wander,”  Professor Colleen Carney told a publication, “They think, ‘What if someone breaks into my house?’ Instead of realising these associations may indicate a fear of dark, they skip a step and assume they have a fear of burglars.”