CHONGQING, Nov. 18 (Xinhua) -- As insomnia becomes a nightmare for numerous Chinese people, a new occupation called "sleeping assistant" has sprung up to help them fall asleep on lingering nights.
In the daytime, Shen Ye, 23, has a white-collar job as an administrative staff member in a state-owned enterprise. But at night, he serves as a sleeping assistant that receives orders from an online shop.
Having charged clients hundreds of yuan an hour, Shen shoulders an important task that pillows, aromatic products, and medicines would fail to fulfill -- to make his clients fall asleep as soon as possible.
"I have been doing this job for over 2 years to earn some spare money," said Shen. He said the market demand is huge and he "never lacks clients."
Insomnia has perplexed more than 300 million people in China, according to a report released by the Chinese Sleep Research Society in 2021.
Shen's secret is his broadcaster-style voice, sensitivity, and experiences. He works mainly by telling stories to customers and chatting with them via voice calls.
According to Shen, it is not easy to be recruited as a sleeping assistant in the online shop, which requires a sweet voice, a good-looking appearance, a bachelor's degree, and some talents.
The online shop categorizes sleeping assistants into different levels based on comprehensive evaluations. Thus, the price of a one-hour voice call can vary from 50 yuan (about 7 U.S. dollars) to 310 yuan.
For 18-year-old Su Xiao, another sleeping assistant, things are slightly different.
"I did this purely out of boredom and curiosity," said Su. She only charged 15 yuan per night. Her clients are mostly young people who, plagued by work or life stress, find it very difficult to fall sleep.
Su added that one of her clients, who used to stay awake at 3 a.m., now can fall asleep at 12 p.m. after purchasing her service for four consecutive days. Her service content is similar to Shen's, including chatting and reading stories.
"Nowadays, the excessive competition at work can strain people, especially young people, so much that they can hardly fall sleep. The sleeping assistants can help ease their loneliness and anxiety," said Jiang Chenggang, director of the sleep and psychology department at the Chongqing Health Center for Women and Children.
Jiang added that this new occupation also reflects how the Internet has changed the way people deal with insomnia. Now, more targeted services are put on the e-shelves, such as sleep monitoring applications, intelligent beds, and memory foam pillows.
Data released by the market research firm iiMedia Research shows that the overall market size of the country's "sleep economy" has grown from about 262 billion yuan in 2016 to approximately 378 billion yuan in 2020, and is expected to reach 1 trillion yuan in 2030. ■
