Health alert! It's never too late to bridge the knowing-doing gap

After a week of getting up early and/or staying up late, we may want to catch up on the much-cherished slumber on the weekend. But can sleeping in on the weekend make up for our lost sleep on weekdays?

You're right if you say "no," and you're not alone in thinking so. A latest national survey found the majority of the respondents would agree with you.

The 2025 Chinese Consumers' Selfcare Awareness & Behavior Report, released this month by Haleon, a global consumer health company listed on the London and New York stock exchanges, in collaboration with two other partners (Healthinsight and YEO Technology & Communication), shows that 87.4 percent of the surveyed believed that sleeping in on the weekend won't compensate for sleep deprivation on weekdays.

The survey, covering more than 1,000 people in 284 cities across China who are aged between 25 and 65, was released during a recent lifestyle event hosted by China Newsweek in Beijing.

Another question asked in the survey is: Can 5 to 10 minutes of moderate-vigorous intermittent exercise a day help lower people's cardiovascular disease risk?

While the correct answer is "yes," most respondents got it wrong.

On the whole, the survey found that nearly 70 percent of the respondents had a passable or excellent understanding of matters related to health care, but a considerable number of the respondents failed to translate their understanding into action. As a result, only 40 percent of all those surveyed were found to be passably healthy in reality.

The knowing-doing gap

The gap is no less a threat to one's health than exacting work.

Haleon's mention of such a gap reminds me of an earlier survey of more than 1,800 employees across China, released in July by Zhaopin.com, a leading recruitment platform. That survey found that over 90 percent of the interviewees said they suffered from sub-health one way or another, but only 36 percent persisted in regular exercises, although most knew physical activities were good for health.

Worse, 71.4 percent of those surveyed habitually sat for long hours, and 55.3 percent even frequently sat motionlessly before a computer. Moreover, employees who stayed up late because of indulgence in online amusement programs outnumbered those who burned the midnight oil because of working overtime.

Indeed, work pressure can prevent us from exercising regularly all the time, but we should earnestly ask ourselves whether we can live healthily outside work – in our leisure time. Do we often spoil our spare time with endless online games? Do we often eat junk food instead of cooking a fresh dish for ourselves? Do we constantly compromise our sleep time with all sorts of mundane worries?

I also suffered from the knowing-doing gap. For instance, I knew a long time ago that prolonged sitting and eating too much salty stuff would do no good to health, but in reality I often did the opposite.

Earlier this month, I got an urgent phone call from a customer service clerk of a physical exam firm, who alerted me to what she described as "a dangerous sign" of my potential prostate problems. She suggested I go to see a doctor as soon as possible.

I immediately made an earliest possible appointment with a senior doctor, which was arranged two weeks later. When I finally visited him, he immediately dispelled my worry, saying my prostate indices were only slightly abnormal and no treatment was needed now, but I had to improve my lifestyle right away – more exercise and no more prolonged sitting!

It's never too late to change, I consoled myself. But looking back at how my knowing-doing gap had secretly affected my health in the past, I would not hesitate to share this with the reader: It's never too early to translate your selfcare awareness into action.

Don't wait, don't protract, otherwise risks are in the pipeline.