The sleep support profession comes about when many people have difficulty even getting a full 8 hours of sleep, or simply want to sleep better.
People with trouble sleeping in China have resorted to “sleep support” services to improve their condition.
People in need will have to pay tens of thousands of yuan (maybe up to hundreds of millions) to talk to sleep specialists every month. This type of business is quite popular recently on Chinese online or e-commerce platforms.
Many people are willing to spend a lot of money to treat insomnia.
When searching for the keyword “Sleep Assist” into the search bar on Taobao, the results return hundreds of thousands of accounts with avatars of anime characters. They will “part time” to provide buyers with conversations lasting at least 15 minutes via text, audio recording or live voice chat. The lowest asking price is 5 yuan (0.5 USD)/time.
The China Sleep Research Association released data in 2021 showing that more and more people in China suffer from insomnia. The report shows that more than 300 million people in China suffer from insomnia disorder (difficulty falling asleep, not sleeping deeply, suddenly waking up many times during the night).
The main victims of insomnia are mainly young people, university students, office workers, first-time parents, etc. The cause is determined to be due to pressure from society and life. lead to shortened sleep time.
Worry about “rice and money” in the situation of increasing inflation caused many people to suffer from prolonged insomnia. Photo: China Daily.
Profiles of “sleep support specialists” show that most of them are also young people, handsome and beautiful, or at least have a bright appearance or some talent related to speech. They are responsible for receiving money to talk and interact with customers with insomnia to help them relax, relieve stress after a tiring day, thereby sleeping better.
A company specializing in providing sleep support solutions said that they have a system of professional sleep support specialists with many different prices and quality.
For low-level “assistants” just starting out, customers have to pay at least 10 yuan for each time they help with the sleep. As for the more advanced, skilled “experts”, customers even have to pay up to 33,440 yuan / month.
A company representative said:
“The assistants and experts will chat, interact or also tell a fairy tale, read a book, do whatever they like, etc. so that the client falls asleep as quickly as possible, the easiest”.
In particular, the method of listening to ASMR (independent orgasmic response) is considered the best seller when customers want to treat insomnia.
However, the authorities have condemned this method, saying that in some cases, many sounds are capable of stimulating and creating unhealthy emotions.
Many “sleep support” companies also launch products to help customers sleep better, such as sound waves lulling apps, good night syrup, lulling lights, scented candles, scented oils, etc.
These companies have created a fairly developed sleeping industry in China, with an estimated value of 1 trillion yuan by 2030. Potential customers of this industry. are those who are under pressure from life, society, economic pressure, etc., from which more money is extracted by “sleeping experts”.
But there are also many customer reviews that show that sleep experts really work. They confirmed that they felt much more relaxed and comfortable after listening and talking with experts. Some professionals even sing or do comedies to encourage clients after listening to them confide.
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