Korean high school students suffer sleep shortage

SEOUL, Oct. 29 (Yonhap) -- About one out of every four high school students in Korea sleeps less than six hours at night, due mainly to excessive studying, causing concern over their physical and psychological health, a lawmaker said, citing the outcome of an education ministry survey. According to the survey of 82,883 students in 765 high schools nationwide on their sleep between April and September last year, 43.9 percent of the respondents reported that they slept for less than six hours per night, Rep. Kim Byung-wook of the Democratic Party said. The comparable figures for elementary school and middle school students were 3.0 percent and 12 percent, respectively. By sex, 35.6 percent of the male respondents slept for less than six hours, while the figure for female students was a whopping 52.9 percent, according to the survey. By region, 61.6 percent of those surveyed in Daejeon said they could not sleep for more than six hours a night. That city was trailed by North Gyeongsang Province with 50.4 percent, Busan with 49.2 percent, Seoul with 48.9 percent and Jeju with 48.5 percent. Experts suggest their lack of sleep is attributable largely to studying deep into the night, as well as searching the Internet and playing games, and that it affects their health and development. "It's a regrettable reality that about half of students are only able to sleep for less than six hours because of their burdens of study and college entrance examinations," Kim said. (END)