Two-thirds of Shenzhen women suffer from sleeping problems of various kinds, according to Thursday's Chinese-language reports citing Shenzhen Women's Federation.

The results of the survey, conducted by the federation, were released at a public lecture held Wednesday by the federation to mark the annual World Day of Sleep. But the reports didn't say when or how the survey was conducted.

Only 2.7 million Shenzhen women had sound sleep in the past year, the lecture was told.

Women are especially prone to sleeping problems due to their psycho-somatic condition, Zhu Xiaofan, a neurophysiologist at the Shenzhen People's Hospital, was quoted by the Daily Sunshine as saying.

Zhu said the combination of estrogen hormones and the growing amount of pressure from an increasingly fast-paced life was making sleeping problems very common among women.

The imbalance of estrogen commonly happens during some periods like pregnancy and menopause, and will cause sleeping problems, according to Zhu.

A woman who gave only her surname Chen said she had not had a good night's sleep since her pregnancy eight months ago, the Shenzhen Economic Daily reported. Chen said she felt very tired but just couldn't sleep. "Even for one hour of sleeping, I keep dreaming and waking up."

Another woman surnamed Li said she has found sleeping difficult in the past few months. Li, an assistant to general manager, said she couldn't fall asleep even after lying in bed for hours. Even if she did fall asleep, she would wake up at 3 or 4 a.m. and not be able to sleep after that.

"This situation continued for a couple of weeks before I decided to seek help from drugs. It has affected my work, I forgot things easily and can't stay focused," Li said, adding that the sleeping pills she took gradually lost their effectiveness.

Insomnia is a common sleeping problem with serious consequences.

The lack of sound sleep often results in depression, weakened immunity and various sleep-related diseases, said Zhu.

"The problem should be taken seriously. Many people who suffer insomnia tend to turn to sleeping pills without consulting doctors," said Tong Xiaoxin, a doctor with the Beijng University Shenzhen Hospital.

Tong said a person who suffers from insomnia for more than one week often has other health problems. "People should go to see a doctor for professional help rather than take sleeping pills," said Tong.

Editor: Yan