BEIJING, Feb. 7 -- A good night's rest is increasingly losing out to the Internet, karaoke bars, late-night TV programmes and other modern-life distractions as sleep disorders affect more and more Chinese, especially in big cities.

    About 45 per cent of Chinese reported insomnia, having difficulty falling asleep, or other sleep-related problems, according to a nationwide survey of 10,000 people in 2002. Similar polls in Beijing and Shanghai last year showed that more people are sleeping less.

    "The incidence of sleep disorder has been rising, but people are not paying enough attention to it," said Liu Yanjiao of the China Research Institute of Traditional Chinese Medicines in Beijing, who is also a director of the Chinese Sleep Research Society.

Although an increasing number of Chinese suffer sleep discorder these days, most of them fail to pay enough attention to the problem.

    According to the Beijing-based institute, insomnia, sleep apnea a breathing-related sleep disorder and narcolepsy a chronic neurological disorder caused by the brain's inability to regulate sleep-wake cycles normally top a host of about 100 categories of sleep disorders in China.

    People in professions such as the media and business managers are the most likely victims of sleep disorders.

    Although there is no universal standard on how much a person needs to sleep a day, experts tend to agree that enough sleep means one feels refreshed and energetic the next day. Most adults should get between 7 and 8 hours of sleep daily, Liu said.

    But people now sleep less and suffer more sleep problems such as having difficulty falling or staying asleep, falling asleep at inappropriate times, or sleeping excessively.

    A November survey of 2,000 people by the Beijing Municipal Statistics Bureau found that residents sleep 25 minutes less on average than they did two decades earlier. The more educated people are, the fewer hours they spend in bed, it showed.

    In Shanghai, a survey of 20,000 workers conducted by the Shanghai Workers' Health Club last year found that only 17 per cent managed seven to 8 hours of sleep a day, and 67 per cent slept only 5 to 6 hours.

    The others either slept less than 5 hours or longer than 8 hours.

    The survey also showed that more than 70 per cent of office workers in the city had difficulty falling asleep; and nearly a quarter depended on sleeping pills.

    Of those dependent on drugs, more than 95 per cent would suffer insomnia if they stopped medication.

    In rural areas, however, sleep problems are rare.

    "Rural residents go to bed early after watching a little TV," Liu said.