"Koreans have mutated! Go to work during the day, have dinner at night, drink until the early morning, chat until all night, and then continue to welcome the new day with energy. How is this done?!"
Some time ago, the urban legend about Koreans not sleeping has caused waves on social media platforms. Many netizens have questioned the anti-human routine that has been learned to the early morning, be happy until dawn, not sleep at night, and be energetic during the day.
Those who have been to Seoul will find that even at two in the morning, they can still see the main business districts are brightly lit and full of people. In most cities in China, midnight is the time when most people finish washing and preparing to rest, but in South Korea, nightlife has just begun. It is common for office workers to have dinner together and students to study all night. Many foreign students will unconsciously get used to sleeping late after coming to South Korea.
There are many exaggerated elements to say that Koreans do not sleep, but it is indeed an indisputable fact that their overall sleep time is short. Before entering South Korea last year, the Australian mattress brand Koala conducted a survey. The results of questionnaires related to sleep quality and sleep habits of 1,058 Korean adults showed that the average daily sleep time of the respondents in the middle and weekends was 6 hours, 42 minutes and 7 hours, 49 minutes, respectively, both lower than the ideal sleep time of adults for 8 hours. The report released by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) as early as 2016 also pointed out that Koreans' sleep time (7 hours and 41 minutes) is 41 minutes less than the average level of member countries (8 hours and 22 minutes), ranking last among member countries.
left hand coffee, right hand red ginseng
In daily life where you don’t sleep at night and get chicken blood during the day, coffee and health products have become the "life-resisting pill" that Koreans cannot do without their hands.
There is a popular saying in Korea that "ice American flows in the blood" and "even if you freeze to death, you have to drink ice American". In this country where coffee is used to drink water, coffee shops are lined up in the streets and alleys, and coffee shops that provide self-study rooms and 24-hour service can be found everywhere.
"Coffee Street" in Zhutiandong, Yongin City, Gyeonggi Province, South Korea / Network
Based on December last year, there are 83,363 coffee shops in South Korea. Taking the world's most popular coffee brand Starbucks as an example, it entered the Korean market in 1999 by the end of last year, and the number of brand stores had reached 1,639. Seoul (284) has become the city with the largest number of Starbucks stores in the world, surpassing New York (277), Shanghai (256), and London (202), and is twice as high as Starbucks' birthplace - Seattle . Now, Starbucks South Korea has also been acquired by the Korean distribution giant New World Group.
compared with the population of less than 52 million, the per capita coffee shop coverage rate in South Korea is amazing. In addition to the wide range of stores, the affordable price of drinks also makes drinking coffee less burdensome. In some coffee shops on the streets of Seoul that only provide take-out services, you can buy a cup of basic American coffee , which tastes not inferior to Starbucks.
A report from the Korean Economic Research Institute shows that based on 2018, the average annual coffee consumption of Korean adults is 353 cups, nearly three times the global per capita consumption (132 cups). During the same period, coffee shop sales increased to US$4.3 billion, ranking among the top three in the world, and the "Coffee Republic" deserves its reputation.
For Li, a worker working in Guanghuamen, one cup of coffee is the basis and three cups are daily. Li said that American coffee is not as hard as working. One cup in the morning wakes up, and chats with colleagues during lunch break. When you work overtime, you have to drink the third cup at night.
Koreans know that staying up late for a long time and intake of caffeine are harmful, so their attention to health has stimulated another market - the health care product market is booming. The Korea Health Functional Food (Health Products) Association recently stated that the local health product market size has reached 5 trillion won (approximately RMB 25.41 billion), and will achieve a breakthrough of 5.5 trillion won this year. By 2030, the size of the South Korean health products market is expected to exceed 25 trillion won.
In South Korea, nearly 80% of people have had the experience of purchasing health products. Unlike China's "thermill with wolfberry" that is the standard for "old cadres", health products are becoming increasingly close to the trend in South Korea. In Korean dramas, you can often see the young protagonist taking out the red ginseng oral strips, tearing the mouth open and drinking it all in one go. Most of the celebrities who endorse these health products are young and beautiful young idols.
Korean actor Kim Sung-chul's red ginseng endorsement advertisement / Tmon
The person in charge of Oulifuyang, the largest beauty and health care product collection store in South Korea, said that in the past, probiotics, red ginseng, and vitamins were the most popular health care products. As young people pay more and more attention to health, nowadays, collagen , hyaluronic acid and other beauty supplements are also very popular. In addition to traditional pharmaceutical companies and food companies, major cosmetic companies in South Korea have also begun to invest in the development of health products. Data shows that the types of health products in 2012 were 12,495 categories, but doubled in 2019 to 26,342 categories.
"Chicken Blood Society" is also a "burnout society"
South Korean economy took off in the 1960s, achieving the growth scale and speed known as " Hanjiang Miracle ", and becoming one of the " Asian Four Little Dragons ". Unlike the hard-working and moving towards brightness with the country (born in 1955 to 1974), young people, now known as the MZ generation (born in 1985 to 1996 and the Z generation born in 1997 to 2006), grew up in South Korea after the Asian financial crisis. They faced a more intense competition for schooling, employment and an infinitely narrowing class leap channel than their parents. In this society with employment rates ranks downstream of OECD member countries (29th in 2021), shortening sleep time has become a "life-saving straw" for young Korean students in order not to fall behind.
Among Korean students, there is a "curse" called "four up and five down", which means that you can get into college after sleeping for 4 hours a day, and you may face failure if you sleep for 1 hour. Data shows that Korean high school students have school leave at 9 pm every day, and they have to attend more than 4 hours of extracurricular cram school classes every week, far exceeding other developed countries. Although the admission of Korean universities does not entirely depend on the candidate's academic ability test (college entrance examination) scores, the general consensus in the entire society is that the results determine the future.
Even if you successfully go to school and find a job smoothly, it does not mean that you can prolong your sleep time. According to OECD data, the average daily time spent by Koreans in the workplace was 7.8 hours, and the working time last year was 1,928 hours, far exceeding the average OECD level (1,500 hours). Before 2018, the government revised the Labor Benchmark Law, shortening the maximum working hours per week from 68 hours to 52 hours, and stipulated different formal implementation times according to the number of employees of the employer. However, the situation of Koreans working for a long time and high intensity has not improved significantly.
Koreans' average sleep time is at the bottom among OECD countries / researchgate
The daytime energy is just an appearance, and the serious lack of sleep time affects the mental state of Koreans. Park, who once worked in a publicity company, said that he was at 7 a.m. every day, busy until 10 p.m. before going home, and occasionally working overtime until 3 a.m. Now, Park has quit his job and enjoys the freedom to work from home as a freelancer, but he still cannot get rid of the shadow of insomnia.
BBC has made a special report on the problem of Koreans suffering from insufficient sleep, saying that "South Korea is the country with the least sleep time on the earth" and "The abuse of sleep aid drugs throughout South Korea is serious." The BBC pointed out that although there are no official statistics, it can be estimated that about 100,000 people in South Korea are addicted to sleep aid drugs. The attending physician at a sleep disorder treatment center in Gangnam, Seoul said that among the patients who came to the hospital for treatment, there were many who needed to take 20 sleep aids every day. It takes a certain amount of time for normal people to lie down to fall asleep, but Koreans take medication to shorten this period as much as possible.
In recent years, while popular words such as "worker", " in-volume ", and "lying flat" have swept across China's Internet space, words such as "social animal", "hell Goryeo", and "N throw generations" with similar meanings have also become popular among young people in South Korea. Unlike the enthusiasm and vitality of the economic take-off era, Korean society is now shrouded in a burnout atmosphere, and more and more young people are "tired physically and mentally" in self-realization where returns are not proportional to efforts.
South Korea's " East Asia Ilbo " and a questionnaire platform under SM C&C showed that 34.7% of respondents had experienced " physical and mental fatigue syndrome " (Burnout Syndrome), among which the younger generation of respondents aged 20 to 39 accounted for the highest proportion (43.9%). The respondents said that they often accompanied by strong escape emotions (multiple choice, 43.4%), fatigue and depression caused by work (43%), collapse after work (37.7%), and more sensitive and irritable (35.1%).
The above questionnaire also shows that young respondents in their 20s experience physical and mental fatigue syndrome due to the pressure of comparing with others (39.8%) and perfectionist tendencies (35%), while respondents in their 30s are tired and eager to succeed (35.5%). Regarding the reasons for the serious physical and mental fatigue syndrome in South Korea, 32.9% of respondents gave an answer that was overwork.
"Although the Republic of Korea was independent in 1945, we have not yet been liberated." This line comes from the TV series "My Liberation Diary" that unexpectedly became popular this spring. The fatigue and dilemma shown in the play plunged into the real situation of Korean society. The story of the three brothers and sisters who wanted to escape from the unsolved life made many viewers express their empathy with the characters after watching it. (Editor/Zhang Xibei)
