TOKYO, Oct. 23 (Xinhua) -- A total of 45.5 percent of people working in Japan sleep less than six hours per night on average, a recent government survey found.
In the white paper approved earlier this month by the Japanese cabinet, 10.0 percent of respondents reported getting less than five hours of slumber a night, 35.5 percent between five and six hours, and 35.2 percent between six and seven hours.
According to the survey of 10,000 employees, around 70 percent of those getting an ideal amount of sleep were not at risk of depression or anxiety, while the proportion fell under 40 percent among those sleeping three to five hours less than their ideal amount.
The health ministry survey showed that 27.4 percent of workers who were four hours short of their ideal amount of sleep and 38.5 percent of those five hours short were suspected to be suffering from severe depression or anxiety disorders.
There is a need to rectify long working hours and enable workers to get more sleep so they can maintain a healthy mental state, the health ministry said. ■
