China 2021: Chinese Sleep Research Society|World Sleep Day

Delegate: Zhi-Li Huang

Affiliations: Chinese Sleep Research Society

Activities:

At 9 am on March 18, 2021, the "World Sleep Day Conference in China”, jointly sponsored by China Sleep Research Society (CSRS) and Mousse (DeRUCCI) group, was held in the China Science and Technology Hall in Beijing. This press conference was attended by the following experts and officials: Dr. Yan Qian, Vice Director of Science Popularization Department of China Association for Science and Technology (CAST), Prof. Zhi-Li Huang, Chairman of CSRS, Prof. Fang Han, Secretary of World Sleep Society, Han Bao, Director of Popular Science Department of CAST, Mr. Ji-Qing Yao, President of Mousse group, Prof. Xi-Heng Guo, the council member of CSRS, and Mr. He-Ming Zuo, Secretary General of CSRS. The conference was chaired by Weiwei Pi, Deputy Secretary General of CSRS. China Central Television (CCTV), Xinhua News Agency, People's Daily, Reference News, China News Agency, Beijing TV, Beijing Daily, Xinhua Net and other Chinese mainstream media all attended and reported the conference.

At the press conference, Prof Zhi-Li Huang, Chairman of CSRS, released the theme of this year's World Sleep Day to the public. He hoped that the media would continue paying attentions to and support the upcoming theme activities of "3.21 World Sleep Day”. Except for conducting in-depth interviews and reports, he hoped the media could make full use of the various and influential broadcasting platforms in China, and maximize the social impact of those theme activities in help with improving the quality of people's well-beings.

The conference was broadcast simultaneously through a number of novel media platforms, among which microblog hot search for the conference ranked No. 2, the reading volume exceeded 330 million, and the total amount of real-time online viewing exceeded 2 million.

Dr. Yan Qian, Vice Director of Popular Science Department of CAST, gave a speech during the conference, pointing out that the health and well-beings of people are an important indicator of national prosperity and national prosperity. CSRS actively responded to the call from CAST. Having been holding theme activities of World Sleep Day for the last 20 years, CSRS is aimed to spreading scientific knowledge to the public and improving the society’s overall awareness of healthy sleep importance. Dr. Yan Qian hoped that the scientists and technicians would continue to serve the people in health career.

Mr Ji-Qing Yao, President of Mousse Group, delivered a speech on how to have a healthy sleep in the post-epidemic era at the conference. He said that improving immunity of the masses is still the key to fighting the epidemic. Also, exercise and sleep are the best partners to enhance immunity. Therefore, Mousse, together with the CSRC, released the white paper on exercise and sleep status of China’s Public in 2021, which aimed to arouse the attention of sporter groups to healthy sleep. The white paper also calls on the public to exercise frequently and sleep well to enhance immunity in response to the call of “Healthy China” purposed by the 19th National Congress.

The conference initiated a large-scale popular science activity, which was jointly witnessed by Vice Director Yan Qian, Prof. Zhi-Li Huang, Prof. Fang Han and President Ji-Qing Yao. The guests took a group photo.

Prof. Fang Han of Peking University People's Hospital interpreted the theme of World Sleep Day this year. As the saying goes, "If one does not sleep for one day, he does not wake up for ten days." Research shows that the risk of early death is increased by 26% among the middle-aged people who sleep less than seven hours a night (but also increased by 24% among those who sleep more than eight hours a night). Sleep not only eliminates fatigue and lets people have new vitality, but has a close relationship with improving immunity and resisting diseases as well.

Moreover, CSRS with Mousse group jointly released the 2021 white paper on sports and sleep status of China’s Public. Prof. Xi-Heng Guo further interpreted the white paper. The survey was conducted to explore the relationship between exercise and sleep. Through a wide range of surveys in 31 provinces and cities including Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan, 13854 effective samples were collected, covering all aspects of sleep status of the exercising population.

According to the survey, slimming is the primary purpose of exercise among Chinese people, but 27% of people do choose exercise to help sleep. Moderate exercise is said to be helpful to improve sleep, attested by the high-quality sleep among the exerciser crowd, who gave the answer,36% of total agreement and 46% of comparative agreement, respectively, to the corresponding question. At present, more than 300 million people are with sleep disorders in China, while the insomnia incidence in sporter population is only 10%. The data also demonstrates that the sleep quality of the exercisers who get up early is the best: 55% of the early-bird people who get up early have "very good" and "relatively good" sleep quality, ranking first in each exercise period. In the survey, 88% of sports fans believe that sleep is very important for sports, which is more recognized by men; 69% feel that good sleep can improve their fitness; 88% of the regular exercising group are willing to improve their exercise effects through sleep; people who sleep 7-8 hours a day are more enthusiastic about sports. The survey also shows that during the epidemic period physical exercises and sleep status of the sports crowd were polarized. The epidemic situation made the regular sports crowd pay more attention to the exercise, work and rest, while the irregular sports crowd was affected and reduced the overall exercise, work and rest. In terms of sports, swimming/rafting enthusiasts are more willing to improve their sleep by changing beds/mattresses; 60% of sports fans are willing to pay for the improvement of sleep environment. In contrast, people who exercise regularly are more willing to pay for sleep improvement.

After the conference, the media interviewed the speakers separately.