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CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 · Sleep Sci 2021; 14(04): 337-341
DOI: 10.5935/1984-0063.20200114
ORIGINAL ARTICLE

The adverse impact of excessive smartphone screen-time on sleep quality among young adults: A prospective cohort

Daneyal Arshad
1   Rawalpindi Medical University, Rawalpindi, Pakistan.
,
Usaid Munir Joyia
1   Rawalpindi Medical University, Rawalpindi, Pakistan.
,
Sadaf Fatima
1   Rawalpindi Medical University, Rawalpindi, Pakistan.
,
Noor Khalid
1   Rawalpindi Medical University, Rawalpindi, Pakistan.
,
Anser Ikram Rishi
1   Rawalpindi Medical University, Rawalpindi, Pakistan.
,
Naimat Ullah Abdul Rahim
1   Rawalpindi Medical University, Rawalpindi, Pakistan.
,
Syed Faheem Bukhari
1   Rawalpindi Medical University, Rawalpindi, Pakistan.
,
Gulfam Khan Shairwani
1   Rawalpindi Medical University, Rawalpindi, Pakistan.
,
Ahmed Salmaan
1   Rawalpindi Medical University, Rawalpindi, Pakistan.
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Introduction Problematic over usage of smartphones has led to various deteriorating effects including poor sleep quality. Screen exposure, especially near bedtime, directly leads to poor sleep quality. We aimed to measure smartphone screen-time (ST) statistics of the participants directly using a smartphone application. Furthermore, we aimed to assess sleep quality using the Pittsburgh sleep quality index (PSQI), and to investigate the association between ST & PSQI.

Material and Methods This descriptive cohort study was conducted among 280 students of MBBS at Rawalpindi Medical University for a period of 1 month (30 days). Physically healthy students who owned Android smartphones were included in the study. Students with diagnosed sleep disorders and students taking sleep medication were excluded from the study. ST was recorded using a smartphone application. Sleep quality was assessed at the end of 30 days using the PSQI questionnaire. Data entry and analysis was done using SPSS v23.0.

Results Total and mean ST were calculated for every participant. The mean screen time of 242 individuals was 147.50±51.09 hours. The mean PSQI score was 6.68±2.3. 65.70% of the participants had a poor sleep quality (PSQI>5). Pearson’s correlation revealed that long total ST was associated with decreased sleep quality (R=0.356, p<0.001).

Conclusion Our findings are in accordance with previous scientific literature largely based on self-reported ST measurements and affirm that excessive ST deteriorates sleep quality and hence has numerous adverse physical and psychological manifestations.

Sleep Hygiene - Sleep Initiation and Maintenance Disorders - Smartphone - Screen Time

FUNDING SOURCE

This research did not receive any specific grant from funding agencies in the public, commercial, or not-for-profit sectors.


ETHICAL APPROVAL

Ethical approval was taken from the ethical review board prior to participant recruitment and data collection.


DECLARATION

The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the institution. All authors have reviewed and approved the final article.




Publication History

Received: 03 November 2020

Accepted: 10 February 2021

Article published online:
30 November 2023

© 2023. Brazilian Sleep Association. This is an open access article published by Thieme under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonDerivative-NonCommercial License, permitting copying and reproduction so long as the original work is given appropriate credit. Contents may not be used for commercial purposes, or adapted, remixed, transformed or built upon. (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/)

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