We all sense that China’s current economic frenzy has led to many people — expats as well as locals — to work extremely long hours and face huge amounts of stress in their jobs. Well, it’s no secret that stress, poor sleep and poor diets can adversely affect your health, but a disturbing new report shows just how serious this is in China. The excellent website China Corporate Social Responsibility discusses a new report on this issue:

The survey report “The Health White Book of Chinese Urban White-collar Workers” — which was jointly published by the Chinese Medical Doctors Association, the Chinese Hospital Association, Beijing Health Insurance Association, and Ciming Checkup — shows that 80% of the white-collar workers surveyed have irregular sleeping or dining schedules and they feel fatigued during the day; 23.7% of them do not take the time to eat breakfast; over 20% of them often eat fast food; 54.4% of them lack sufficient sleep; and 32.4% of them do not get quality sleep; only 46% of them take even occasional exercise. In addition, over half of the white-collar workers often feel irritated, 20% feel lonely, and over 70% feel a lack of happiness and satisfaction.

Yikes! This doesn’t sound too healthy, long-term both for individuals as well as society. Hopefully, surveys such as this can foster a good societal debate as to just what we are sacrificing here, or at least motivate individuals to take their own initiatives. I personally feel that a big portion of the disease and mental health problems I see in my clinic is related to work-related stressors and lifestyle decisions. You can read the full ChinaCSR article here (New Survey: 76% Chinese Office Workers Sub-par – ChinaCSR.com – Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) and Sustainability News for China.). This website also has a nice weekly free email newsletter that highlights the top stories of the week.