Over 40 percent of Chinese netizens spend most of their times surfing the Internet on the weekends. And over 70 percent suffer from some kind of psychological problems. Internet health disorder has become a pressing problem for Chinese netizens. This is the information disclosed by a report surveying Chinese netizens' health published on September 12 by www.39.net. The survey covers more than 100 million netizens.

Poor health

The report points out that Internet Health Disorder includes mouse hand, reduced eyesight, neck, shoulder and back joint injuries, insomnia, poor memory, attention deficit disorder, anxiety, depression, Internet dependence/addiction and lack of confidence. Other Internet related sub-health conditions result from computer radiation, a decrease in time for sports and Internet addiction. These above factors have been the three main threats to netizens' physical and mental health ever since the Internet appeared. Internet Health Disorder has increased in proportion with the number of rapidly rising netizens, along with netizens' increasingly greater Internet dependence.

According to the survey, netizens are not in good health although 95 percent of them know something about sub-health risk factors. 73 percent of netizens suffer from dizziness, insomnia and joint pain. 30 percent of the netizens surveyed or their friends have high blood pressure or other cardiovascular diseases. As many as 50 percent of netizens suffer from an occasional stomachache.

Meanwhile, computer users don't pay adequate attention to their health, with over half of them spending less than 1,000 yuan (US$133) each year on their health. 63 percent will choose their own medicine instead of consulting a doctor if they feel dizzy or catch cold.

The psychological problems appear more obvious. 20 percent of netizens think that their psychological condition is not healthy. About 50 percent have psychological problems ranging from often to sometimes, but few of them treat the problem. Almost 70 percent have never sought psychological information and over 90 percent have never gone to seek a psychological consultation.

Change of life style

Surfing the Internet has greatly changed netizens' life style -- they are surfing too long and abstaining from sports. 51.4 percent exercise less than three hours a week. 12.5 percent have not participated in any sports for more than six months. Over the weekend, 41 percent will choose to surf the Internet at home and less than 9 percent will exercise. Finally, only 16 percent report an eight-hour-sleep everyday.

In addition to all this nearly 70 percent of netizens dine in front of the computer, ranging from sometimes to often, with approximately 2 percent eating this way on a daily basis. This phenomenon is more common among young netizens. Many harmful bacteria live in the keyboards, especially in public computers inside net bars. Eating in front of any computer is definitely not advisable for good health.

Experts suggest that netizens surf the Internet for about two hours a day, and take a 15-minute rest after using the Internet for one hour.

(China.org.cn by Li Xiaohua, September 15, 2007)