Conducted by Beijing-based Horizon Research, the sample survey was carried out among 1,521 multinational company employees in China's four major cities ¡ª Shanghai, Beijing, Guangzhou and Wuhan ¡ª since September 2005.

Among the 824 female and 697 male employees, more than 90 percent have exhaustion symptoms, in accordance with 27 symptoms issued by Japan's National Institution of Public Health.

Five percent of the respondents even had more than 10 among of the symptoms and face serious health complications.

Lack of exercise caused more than half of the symptoms, according to the survey. Overtime work is the second major reason. The survey also showed that about 30 percent of the interviewees always feel tired and have a bad memory.

Employees aging from 30 to 45 with high salaries and academic credentials are the most tired, the survey showed.

About 15.8 percent of them have more than seven of the overtired symptoms. Among the middle-aged employees who were paid more than 8,000 yuan (US$1,032) a month, the ratio reached 19 percent. The proportion among master's degree holders and above is 23.6 percent, according to the survey.