Nearly 60 percent of young Chinese surveyed recently by China Youth Daily said they habitually go to bed late and barely fall asleep before 11 p.m. The survey was conducted to mark the 21st World Sleep Day, March 21.

Of the 2,002 survey respondents aged between 18 and 35, only 8.5 percent said their average sleeping time exceeds eight hours. Over four fifths said they usually sleep between six and eight hours a night. Nearly half of the respondents suffer from excessive dreaming, light sleeping and early awakening and other sleep problems. 

Poor sleep quality is harmful to both physical and mental health, weakening the immune system and causing emotional irritability. Staying up late is a major reason for this.

Case studies have proved that excessive sitting up late increases the risk of cancer, diabetes and depression, which cannot be reversed by medical care and other approaches.

Today, over 300 million Chinese are facing sleep disturbances, according to the Chinese Sleep Research Society. It is urgent to remind those late nighters to go to bed earlier.

This is an edited excerpt of an article originally published in Beijing Youth Daily on March 22 

(Print Edition Title: Sleep Problems)