The society is a key academic organization which has annually organized activities on sleep over the past 18 years. And this year, a large-scale nationwide educational campaign on sleep was launched at the news conference.

Han Fang, chairman of the society, says: "Sleep is important for us humans, and we want to encourage people to form good rest habits to improve their sleep quality and health."

He adds that as the pace of life gets faster and electronic devices affect people's bedtime routines, the importance of keeping a regular bedtime should be emphasized.

Sun Hongqiang, the director of the department of sleep science at Peking University's Sixth Hospital, also stresses the importance of regular sleep hours.

"Sleep is a basic physiological phenomenon for humans. A person spends about one-third of his or her life sleeping. Sleep is the result of long biological evolution and synchronization between the natural law of day and night as well as the biological rhythm of the human body," says Sun, adding that lack of sleep can have an effect on cognitive functions, such as memory.

Sun also says that "counting sheep" does not work for longtime insomnia sufferers, who have to change their bedtime habits, and try to calm themselves down in bed by listening to their own breathing.

Gao says that young people are less likely to stick to healthy sleep hours. And the research also shows that while noise has become an important factor affecting people's sleep quality, eye masks, earplugs, and foot patches are being bought online by people to deal with sleep difficulties.

"These items sell really well on Taobao," says Gao.

liuxiangrui@chinadaily.com.cn