Report On Comparative Study Of Mainland Students’ Sleeping Patterns In Mainland China And Hong Kong

1. Introduction

This report is a study of comparative study of mainland students’ sleeping patterns in mainland China and Hong Kong. Since the mainland students came to Hong Kong, their schedules have become similar with those of the local students. They sleep so late at night that they may not have enough rest and always feel tired. This may have a negative impact on their daily life.

This report aims to present the information about the changes of the mainland students’ sleeping pattern, some bad influences and make suggestions about how to improve their sleeping patterns.

2. Method

I obtained the data by means of a questionnaire survey conducted in March, 2008. The questionnaires were distributed to a total of 40 mainland students.

The questionnaire was divided into 4 parts: sleeping patterns in Hong Kong and mainland China and personal opinions about sleeping patterns. Sleeping patterns in Hong Kong also has two parts. One is on weekdays, the other one is focused on weekends.

3. Findings

3.1 Introduction

In general, most of the mainland students sleep late and get up late comparing with their sleeping pattern in mainland China. This change has already caused some negative effect on the students’ daily life.

3.2 Time Periods When to Sleep

Table 1 Times when to sleep in different situations

Situation Time on weekdays in Hong Kong at weekends in Hong Kong in mainland China

Before 12:00 2.5% 0% 37.5%

12:00-01:00 30% 12.5% 42.5%

After 01:00 67.5% 87.5% 20%

According to Table 1, we could observe that more than one-third (37.5%) of the respondents said that they slept before 12 o’clock when they were in mainland China, while only a small number (2.5%) of the respondents thought they slept at that time on weekdays in Hong Kong. When the situation is at weekends, the figure becomes zero. Among all respondents, about two-thirds (67.5%) and a majority (87.5%) said that they slept after 1 o’clock on weekdays and during weekends in Hong Kong respectively. However, only twenty percent of the respondents expressed that they slept at that time when they were in the mainland.

This finding may indicate that nearly all students sleep late after they came to Hong Kong.

3.3 Time Periods of Getting Up

Table 2 Times when to get up in different situations

Situation Time on weekdays in Hong Kong at weekends in Hong Kong in mainland China

Before 08:00 2.5% 0% 45%

08:00-10:00 82.5% 15% 47.5%

After 10:00 15% 85% 7.5%

Of all the respondents, more than four-fifths (82.5%) said that they got up between 8 a.m. and 10 a.m. on weekdays and a large majority expressed that they got up after 10 at weekends when they are in Hong Kong. However, 45% of respondents thought they got up before 8 a.m. and nearly half (47.5%) said they got up between 8 and 10 with the same situation in mainland.

The data shows that most of the mainland students get up later in Hong Kong than what they did in mainland China. According to the time when the respondents sleep and get up, it is obvious that around three quarters of the mainland students sleep about 7 to 9 hours, which is the same as it was in mainland China. It appears that almost all the respondents have enough sleep every day.

3.4 The Quality of Sleep

More than three quarters (77.5%) of the respondents thought the quality of sleeping in the mainland was better than that in Hong Kong.

3.5 The Reasons for Sleeping Late at Night

30 and 32 respondents said that their reason for sleeping late at night was due to surfing the Internet till late on weekdays and during weekends in Hong Kong respectively. However, only 12 mainland students have the same reason when they are in mainland. The numbers of the