The World Cup may have ended but "World Cup syndrome" is still taking its toll.

A month of little sleep due to late kick-off times seems to have left football followers in China flagging.

"Dozens of people have visited my office since Monday, reporting various kinds of illnesses and problems. Watching games was the common reason given by them as background information," said professor Ma Genshan, dean of the Internal Medical Department in the Hospital Affiliated to the Southeast University (SEUH) in Nanjing, capital of east China's Jiangsu Province.

According to Ma, the biological clocks and lifestyles of Chinese fans were badly affected because of the time difference in Germany, where the tournament was held.

Ma said that those people with pre-existing problems and illnesses are especially at risk.

"Midnight is the time when people should be asleep to rest the functional organs. Staying awake and becoming excited at this time of night causes harm to those people with liver and lung problems," Ma told China Daily.

The drinking of too much alcohol by fans over the past month has also taken its toll, according to Ma.

Ma said there had been a rise in the number of patients suffering from related conditions and problems.

Eleven people died in China during the course of the tournament due to heart attacks or problems caused by overexcitement.

In Guangzhou, capital city of south China's Guangdong Province, many fans went to see doctors this week for various problems, including weight gain.

Too much drinking and night-time snacks have made many people put on weight, a doctor of Guangzhou Second Traditional Chinese Medicine Hospital, was quoted as saying by the Information Times.

Drug addicts who are trying to give up their habit in Guangzhou Baiyun Voluntary Anti-Drug Centre have reportedly been struggling since the end of the tournament.

Addicts in recovery suffer from sleep problems, and often have a desire to take drugs at night, said centre doctors.

They added patients had been distracted from their problems because of the World Cup and its late kick-off times.

For many white-collar workers in China, a month of late nights and early starts for work has left them feeling exhausted.

"After a whole month of continuous expectation and disappointment, I am completely exhausted. I am now not interested in anything at all and I have asked for a whole week's leave from work," said Liu Yuanyuan, a white-collar worker at a company in Nanjing.

Professor Yan Fulin, from the Neurology Department at the SEUH, said that a total lack of activity was not necessarily a good way to "recover."

"To drag themselves out of the depression brought on by the end of the World Cup, the best way is to develop interests in other fields, such as books, movies or other sports," said Yan.

(China Daily July 12, 2006)