In cities, sleep disorders have spread like a contagious disease because of irregular lifestyles, he said.

    Also, the majority of the restless people were found working in professions that require intense brainwork.

    "Media workers, accountants, business leaders, overweight residents and people at high risk of contagious diseases, such as HIV/AIDS, are most vulnerable to sleep disorders,?Liu said.

    Wang Jianjie, a Beijing-based newspaper journalist, is an example. According to the young man, his caused him to sleep at two or three o'clock in the early morning and rise before nine.

    "In daytime I have a lot of work to do and there are various meetings I need to attend,?he told China Daily. "Only at night when it's quiet, my head is clear and I could open my computer to write.?The man in his 20s often penned features about outstanding individuals, which he said requires a disruption-free environment.

    However his irregular lifestyle, which had led to sleep deficiency, backfired as he had seen a low working efficiency in daytime and it made him "suffer?all day. "I just barely complete the assigned tasks,?he said.

    Tang Qiang, an advertisement schemer and writer in Beijing, ignored his waning health even though he had shown symptoms for months: abrupt awakening, night sweating and rapid heartbeat during sleep. "I have to work to feed and shelter myself,?he said. "And there's just no way out.?

    A native of Chengdu, a city well-known for its leisurely lifestyle in Southwest China's Sichuan Province, the 24-year-old said he's not accustomed to the fast pace in the capital city.

    "I was assigned a 2.6 million yuan (US$320,000) sale task, and the tedious work made me often go to bed in the wee hours of the morning,?he said. As a result, a few months ago, the young man was plagued by abrupt awakening from time to time.

    "After waking up at about 4 am, I couldn't fall asleep again,?he said. Then the young man tried to think about his tasks for the next day in bed, but it was difficult for him to concentrate. "I can't control my thought, and I could only go between slumber and consciousness until the sunrise,?he said.

    In the morning the young man always feels an ache in his forehead, and his colleagues say his eyebrows are always twisted together. Now the young man is thinking about seeing a doctor.

    Evidence shows that sleep deprivation is present in the country's primary and middle schools.

    According to a survey conducted in the last two years by the China Youth and Children Research Centre among 5,846 students in 10 major cities, including Beijing, Shanghai and Chongqing, more than half of primary and middle school kids said good sleep is the dearest thing to them.

    The survey results, released early this year, showed that 10.4 per cent under age 12 slept less than eight hours a day. Among children aged between 13 and 15, one-third slept less than eight hours per day. This is much lower than doctors?recommendations that children and teenagers should get at least nine hours of sleep and scientists said not getting enough shuteye makes it far harder for kids to learn.

    Li Shunwei, professor of neuropsychiatry at the Peking Union Medical College Hospital, told China Daily that sleep deprivation might even hide potential diseases such as depression and anxiety. What's more, sleep disorders contribute to an enormous loss in social and economic spheres, such as accidents and injuries.

    Although no relevant statistics are available in China, figures in Australia show the social and economic burden of sleeping disorders costs Australia about US$10 billion every year.

    In the United States, major environmental and technological disasters have been attributed partially to sleep deprivation. Investigations into the Challenger, Chernobyl, Three Mile Island, and the Exxon Valdez oil spill all indicated that employees had been working long hours with little sleep, and that this condition may have played some role in each.

    "Who knows the sleep deprivation is not a reason for the frequent coal mine accidents in China,?Li said. "After all, companies will lose money when their workers are half awake on jobs," he said.

    But people in China still do not pay enough attention to the problem. According to Li, only about 20 per cent of people suffering from sleep disorder in China turn to health professionals for help.

    "In the past, having a few sleepless nights is not viewed as troublesome in China,?Li said.

    It was not until 2001 when more attention began to be paid to the matter of sleep and sleep quality, Li said. But still, a few millions of yuan are spent each year on sleep-related research in the country, in contrast to tens of billions of US dollars in America.

(Source: China Daily)