60 million Chinese people suffer from sleep disorders: survey

Around 50 million to 60 million people in China suffer from sleep disorders, according to two reports released recently, reports the Beijing News.

The reports have attributed the results to heavy work pressure and the habits of using smart phones before bedtime.

A China sleep medicine survey report and a 2018 China white paper on Internet users' sleep were published on March 17, just four days ahead of this year's World Sleep Day.

56 percent of those surveyed believe they have sleeping problems, including dreaming a lot, having light sleep and feeling sleepy after getting out of bed in the morning, the white paper shows. Young people are the most sleep deprived group, especially those who work in first-tier cities. Beijing youth are found to sleep the least, with less than seven hours daily on average.

With regards to the causes of sleeping problems, 70 percent of surveyed netizens say their sleep has been affected by stress from work. People working in the financial and service sectors, as well as government agencies, have the poorest sleep quality, according to the white paper.

Additionally, nearly 90 percent of Internet users have a habit of playing with their mobile phones before going to bed. Experts note that luminous screens, such as those on mobile phones and computers, can increase peoples' alertness and excitability, impacting the time of falling asleep.

Sleep disorders are a dangerous factor in causing dementia, while adequate sleep is helpful in protecting the brain, according to Ye Jingying, director of the Sleep Medicine Specialized Committee with Chinese Medical Doctor Association.

Only less than two percent of those with sleep disorders get proper medical treatment, and on average, there are only 5.8 hospital beds for every one million patients in China's developed regions, the survey says. "We are seeing a lack of medical capacity and professional staff," said Han Fang, chair of the Chinese Sleep Research Society.