Inadequate sleep concerns most Chinese parents: Survey

BEIJING - A survey by China Youth Daily found that 82.4 percent of Chinese parents worry their children are getting insufficient sleep.

"The sleeping habits of primary and middle school students are getting worse, and the proportion of those lacking sleep is rising," Sun Hongyan, director of the childhood research institute at the China Youth and Children Research Center, was quoted as saying by the newspaper.

Nearly 63 percent of Chinese children and adolescents aged between 6 and 17 sleep less than eight hours per day, and some 81.2 percent of teenagers aged between 13 and 17 sleep less than eight hours, according to a white paper released by the Chinese Sleep Research Society in March.

The survey showed that excessive schoolwork and pressure from cram schools are deemed to be the two major causes of the lack of sleep, accounting for 61.1 percent and 54.5 percent, respectively.

Homework pressure has long had the biggest effect on children's sleep, while the use of electronic devices and the internet has exacerbated the situation, Sun said.

Respondents agreed their children had three common problems: short slumbering hours, difficulty in falling asleep and nervousness during sleep.

The survey covered 1,876 parents with children aged between six and 17, 77 percent of whom live in the first and second-tier cities.