Their report is part of activities for the March 21 "World Sleep Day" which falls on Friday.

A simultaneous survey conducted last year in over 20 countries and regions shows that more people now suffering from sleeping problems, with roughly 20 to 30 percent of adults worldwide affected by insomnia. Under 50 percent of them will be diagnosed with the condition.

Goran Hajak, professor of psychiatry at the University of Regensburg in Germany pointed out that a major reason for the poor recognition of insomnia is that patients often do not speak to a doctor about their problem.

In a recent German survey, only 46 percent of chronic insomniacs reported that they had discussed their insomnia with a physician. Furthermore, only 5 percent of patients had sought help specifically for insomnia.

The survey also found that patients were hesitant to discuss insomnia with their physicians because they were afraid their problems would be seen as trivial, or conversely, they were afraid they would be told they had a serious illness.

"Physicians also tend to trivialize insomnia," said professor Jorge Alberto Costa, director of the International Center for Mental Health at the New York University School of Medicine. Physicians often ascribed insomnia to "the stress of modern life" and tended to be unaware that it was an established risk factor for psychiatric illness, he said.

Statistics show that the risk of depression is four times greater for insomniacs than for those not suffering from sleeping difficulties, and the abuse of alcohol and other substances is more prevalent in insomniacs.

(Eastday.com March 21, 2003)