보건복지부 영문홈페이지

Korean youths deprived of sleep

- 7 to 9 out of 10 teenagers fail to get sufficient sleep

 

Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (KCDC; Director Jeon, Byung Yool) announced the tentative statistical figures from the 2011 Online Survey on Youth Health Status concerning smoking, drinking, and eating habits and sleep patterns of adolescents (between 13 and 18 years old; from the first year of middle school to the third year of high school).

 

According to the survey, Korean youths are getting insufficient amounts of sleep on average per week and those who fail to get enough sleep tend to display unhealthy habits or life styles of smoking, drinking, being stressed out, etc. (Attachment 2) 

 

Middle school students get an average of 7.1 hours of sleep per week, regular high school students, an average of 5.5 hours of sleep, and specialized high school students, an average of 6.3 hours per week. Those who get less than 8 hours of sleep account for 74.8% of middle school students, 97.7% of regular high school students, and 89.9% of specialized high school students. (Table 1,2 and Diagram 1)

※The hours of sleep recommended by the US National Sleep Foundation are 8.5~9.25 hours for those aged between 10 and 17 years old (nap not included).

 

Students sleeping less than five hours exhibit bad health habits or life styles such as smoking, drinking, stress, suicidal thought, excessive internet use, etc compared to those who sleep 7-8 hours. (Diagram 3~7)    

 

There have been improvements on the consumption of carbonated beverage and fast food, practice of teeth-brushing, wearing of safety belts when sitting on the front of a car and putting-on of helmets when riding a bicycle by teenagers. However, youth’s accessibility to alcohol and tobacco still needs to be averted and their practice of hand-washing needs some improvement.    

The consumption of carbonated drinks (23.2%) and fast food (11.6%) has been steadily declining (from 26.2% and 1.7%, respectively) since the campaign banning the sales of carbonated beverages within schools (Student Health Improvement Plan) in 2007.

※The consumption rate of carbonated beverage (three times a week and more): 52.9%(’05)→52.2%(’06)→49.4%(’07)→42.9%(’08)→24.0%(’09)→24.3%(’10)→23.2%(’11)

※The consumption rate of fast food (three times a week and more): 30.5%(’05)→30.0%(’06)→29.3%(’07)→21.6%(’08)→12.1%(’09)→12.0%(’10)→11.6%(’11)

 

The rate of teeth-brushing after lunch at school is still low at 41.3% but it has been improving since the campaign encouraging the teeth-brushing after lunch at schools in 2007 (Student Health Improvement Plan). 

※The rate of the practice of teeth-brushing after lunch at school:  24.4%(’05)→31.8%(’06)→31.3%(’07)→34.5%(’08)→38.0%(’09)→40.8%(’10)→41.3%(’11)

 

The rates of wearing of front seat belts (68.0%) and putting-on of bike helmets (5.2%) have been steadily increasing, but they are still low.

※The rate of wearing of front seat belts: 63.7% (’09)→65.5%(’10)→68.0%(’11)

※The rate of putting on of bike helmets: 2.3%(’05)→3.5%(’06)→3.2%(’07)→3.2%(’08)→3.5%(’09)→5.0%(’10)→5.2%(’11)

 

One out of 10 youths is smoking and two out of ten are drinking. They can easily buy tobacco (81.0%) and alcoholic beverage (82.6%) at convenience store or other types of store.

※The present rate of smoking: 11.8%(’05)→12.8%(’06)→13.3%(’07)→12.8%(’08)→12.8%(’09)→12.1%(’10)→12.1%(’11)

※The present rate of drinking: 27.0%(’05)→28.6%(’06)→27.8%(’07)→24.5%(’08)→21.1%(’09)→21.1%(’10)→20.6%(’11)

※The rate of tobacco purchase: 42.9%(’05)→52.2%(’06)→48.1%(’07)→50.2%(’08)→48.2%(’09)→50.1%(’10)→50.4%(’11)

※The rate of alcohol beverage purchase: 42.1%(’05)→33.8%(’06)→31.2%(’07)→29.7%(’08)→27.5%(’09)→28.3%(’10)→31.1%(’11)

※The accessibility to tobacco purchase (those who attempt to purchase): 83.9%(’05)→86.5%(’06)→84.1%(’07)→81.3%(’08)→80.5%(’09)→80.9%(’10)→81.0%(’11)

※The accessibility to alcohol beverage purchase (those who attempt to purchase): 86.1%(’05)→87.3%(’06)→84.8%(’07)→82.1%(’08)→81.7%(’09)→82.5%(’10)→82.6%(’11)

 

The rate of hand-washing with a soap at school temporarily increased due to the threat of H1N1 and the nation-wide campaign on hand-washing in 2009 and dropped again.

※The rate of practice of hand-washing with a soap before meal at school: 32.8% (’08) →56.5% (’09) → 39.3% (’10) →35.1% (’11)

※The rate of practice of hand-washing after using the bathroom at school: 47.9% (’08) → 72.3% (’09) → 59.1% (’10) → 57.2% (’11)

 

In this regard, KCDC (Director Jeon, Byung Yool) will be holding the 7^th Youth Health Status Online Survey Result Presentation and Youth Health Policy Forum for 2011 on 13 Dec. 

 

In the first part of the event, the tentative figures from the 2011 survey regarding Korean youth’s smoking, drinking, physical activities and mental health, etc will be presented and in the second part, the youth health policy forum under the theme of “Korean Youth’s Sleep and Health” will be held. 

 

The 2011 result report will be disclosed for free of charge along with raw data at the website (http://yhs.cdc.go.kr) in Mar. 2012.