The survey "Sleep Epidemiology", sponsored by the International Foundation for Mental Health and Neuro-Science, is an important part of simultaneous research being carried out among 50,000 residents in over 20 countries and regions.

The research aims to collect scientific information about people's sleep patterns and the problem of insomnia, and to help the public understand about sleep and sleep related diseases.

Professor Gu Liufan of the Shanghai Mental Health Center said:" It's very significant for Chinese people, who account for one fifth of the world population, to pay attention to sleep and its problems."

In Shanghai, China's financial center, hundreds of people were queueing to fill in the survey forms. They will be asked about their sleep patterns, insomnia problems and whether they have ever taken sleeping pills.

Thomas Roth, Chairman of the National Sleep Foundation of the United States, said that the quality of sleep is a key issue in people's quality of life, and thousands are suffering from a poor quality of life because of sleep problems. "It is a huge problem for the whole humankind," he said.

Sixty one year old Tu Jialin has been plagued by insomnia for over 21 years and her husband suffered from insomnia during his university days. They now have only 4 hours sleep a day because of stress. "I envy young people so much as they fall asleep on touching the pillow," she said when filling in the survey form.

After filling in the form Zhao Lei, a 25 year old , was surprised when his score showed he has symptoms of insomnia.

Athough he was often suffered from sleeping problems, he had never taken it as a kind of "disease". "I will make some adjustment to my life style," said Zhao.

Statistics provided by the China Medical Association show that about 300 million Chinese adults have sleep problems, and most come from economically developed areas.

Professor Zhang Mingyuan of the China Medical Association says that with the more stress and more competition in modern society, more Chinese adults are suffered from sleeping problems.

The latest survey from Shanghai shows that the number of insomnia patients increased by 20 percent in the first two months of this year, compared with the same period last year, and half are between 31 and 51 years old.

A research made by the World Health Organization (WHO) disclosed that sleep disease has become a key public health problem which still needs attention and more solutions. Sleep diseases affect 27 percent of people in the world.

The 10,000 forms collected in China, together with the 40,000 forms in other countries, will be analyzed and the results published in the third quarter of this year.

(People’s Daily March 22, 2002)