A man sleeps in a bench along Changan Avenue in Beijing. (Photo : Reuters)
China’s entrepreneurs are experiencing poor quality of sleep but are getting a better night’s rest than they did the past year, according to a report from Forbes China published on Wednesday.
Forbes, in partnership with Chinese mattress maker DeRucci, made the report based on a survey of more than 1,800 Chinese businesspeople across the country, including those on Forbes' Billionaires List, in celebration of World Sleep Day on March 23.
It is the second time that Forbes China has partnered with DeRucci for the survey. The first, which was published in early 2014, was considered the first of its kind in China and was based on surveys of around 1,000 Chinese entrepreneurs.
Both reports utilized an index of 100 to determine sleep quality, with 60 as the pass mark. For this year, the respondents scored 64.93, a slight increase from 61.33 in 2014.
The report also said that Chinese entrepreneurs sleep for an average is six hours and 57 minutes, narrowly failing the internationally recognized sleep time requirement of at least seven hours for adults.
Around half of the respondents said that they do not get enough sleep, while 73 percent have reported sleep disorders such as insomnia and sleep apnea, according to the survey.
Psychological and physical well-being suffers due to lack of sleep, the report said, noting that nearly 60 percent of respondents said that when they sleep poorly, they tend to become easily irritated, and 90 percent admitted that bad sleep impairs family relationships.
"What entrepreneurs pursue is happiness in life, rather than simply wealth. They should care more about sleep and physical well-being than other things such as luxuries or social desires," said Zhou Jiangong, editor-in-chief of Forbes China.
"Forbes China has conducted a series of surveys centering on lifestyle and health, and the sleep report hopes to examine the relationship between wealth and sleep and to raise entrepreneurs' awareness on importance of good sleep that they often take for granted."
Xie Ke, executive editor with the life division of Forbes China, said that Chinese entrepreneurs have poor sleep because of stress and the tendency to work at night, despite more than 50 percent using technology and devices such as smartphone apps to monitor sleep, and are eager to have better sleep.
Entrepreneurs should get up and go to bed early, take a nap at noon, exercise, and pay attention to light and other environment factors to improve sleep, Xie added.
Pan Shiyi, chairman of real-estate developer SOHO China, was also present during the report's release event, saying that he suffered from heavy snoring until he took up an improved exercise regimen.
