AsyncTask which is better TimerTask or Sleep?

Question

Android

Hello.
There is a task to count 8 seconds, but if the screen is turned, then do not start over, but continue from the place that was before the turn ...
Before that, I did TimerTask 8 times for 1 second (in the timer itself, I checked how many times the timer worked, and not just called 8 times))) )
But then I came across AsyncTask, it’s convenient and easy to work with + in my opinion it’s more convenient to save the state, but you can also use sleep (1) instead of a timer The
question in general is this: better to use - normal timer or sleep ?
In the case of Sleep, you don’t need to use extra classes of timers, etc., and it’s more convenient, but I’m a noob, so I’d better ask you)
Thank you very much)