Young white-collar workers not sleeping well

Young Chinese people in a health survey say they are getting bad sleep. The survey, conducted by the Chinese Medical Doctors Association, shows that diseases related to nose, throat, stomach and neck have become the most common illness among young white-collar workers.

The survey targeted 260,000 white-collar workers living in Beijing, Shanghai, and Guangzhou. About 54 percent were age 20-30, 8 percent were 31-40, and 39 percent were 41-45.

Nearly 70 percent said they get six to eight hours of sleep a night, but only 23 percent of them say they can sleep soundly. Another 23 percent said they can hardly fall asleep, and sleep light. Eight percent said they have to take medicine in order to sleep.

Bad sleep is related to stress. The survey shows 12 percent of people feel great pressures, and 36 percent say they have relatively high pressure. Housing, work and domestic relations ranked in the top three as sources bringing stress, according to the survey.