Chinese consumer tech sharpens focus on helping young people get a good sleep, wake up fresh amid latest Covid-19 concerns

When Beijing research institute employee Terry Xu first started using an app called CoSleep to help him get a good rest, it was to help deal with the stress of looking for a job about three years ago after graduating from university.

“With the Covid-19 pandemic in China recently getting worse, I would browse what people post on social media and often stay up late,” Xu said in a phone interview on Thursday. “Now I’ve started to use CoSleep more frequently.”

Hundreds of millions across China may be facing similar feelings of anxiety amid the latest surge in Covid-19 infections and enforcement of lockdowns as part of the government’s zero-Covid-19 policy, especially in major cities like Beijing and Shanghai.

The situation could see many turn to popular Chinese consumer technology as a means to get proper rest amid the latest outbreak, reminiscent of the state of affairs in 2020 when technology emerged as a lifesaver on many fronts: robots in hospitals, health code apps, online education and remote working.

Sleeping disorders are becoming more common among young people in the world’s second-largest economy. Nearly 40 per cent of people aged between 26 and 35 now sleep five hours or shorter, according to a survey published last month by the Chinese Sleep Research Society.

Zou Zou, founder and chief executive of CoSleep operator XinChao Technology Co, told the South China Morning Post that the app’s total user base has significantly expanded during the pandemic, without providing specific numbers.

She said in a phone interview on Thursday that the number of new CoSleep users grew 46 per cent in the first quarter. In 2020, the number of new users nearly tripled from a year earlier.

Around 70 per cent of CoSleep users are female, including those in their 20s and 30s. The app is also popular with high school students, who use it to address their pre-examination sleeping problems. Zou said young people lack sleep primarily because they stay up late using their smartphones.

Based in Guangzhou, capital of southern Guangdong province, XinChao first released CoSleep as a stand-alone product in 2018, after it was spun off from another app called Heartide.

Apart from monitoring sleep, the app provides white noise to help users fall asleep, online meditation and breathing exercises, and with permission, even records what users say when they dream. The gyroscope sensors and microphone of a user’s smartphone enables the app to tell people when they do not turn over and fall asleep.

CoSleep’s algorithm estimates when a user is in “light sleep” mode, which would be the best moment to receive a soothing wake-up tune.

By contrast, Shenzhen-based VVFly Electronics offers both hardware and software to help prevent snoring and sleep apnoea. Its Snore Circle line of products are composed of small devices that are attached to either the ear, below the jaw or over the eyes, like eye masks.

“[These products] are for normal people who have been disturbed by a little snoring,” VVFly chief executive Johnson Luo said in a phone interview on Thursday. “Serious cases should go see their doctor.”

Even though snoring is typically considered a problem for older people, Luo said around 70 per cent of its users are between 16 and 40 years old.

“If one suffers from serious sleep apnoea, which may lead to suffocation, wearing an anti-snoring device is necessary,” Luo said. “I just hope Snore Circle can address the problem with as much comfort as possible.”

Besides monitoring sleep, Snore Circle equipment sends out signals, vibrations or electrical pulses to make the snorer temporarily aware and prompt a change of position in bed.

Snore Circle is also available in North America, Europe and Japan, according to Luo. Compared to Chinese users, Americans “have a more pragmatic understanding” that the device does not cure every problem, he said.

Luo also indicated that VVFly has faced supply chain problems because of the global chip shortage. “But I expect the situation to get better this year,” he said.