Effect of smartphone usage on quality of sleep in medical students

Background: Like every other important invention of the technological revolution, smartphones have brought with themselves both comforts and problems. An irrational overuse of smartphones has been described as smartphone addiction. Medical students are highly vulnerable to sleep deprivation, smartphone addiction might further aggravate this problem. Aims and Objectives: The aim of this study was to find out the effect of smartphone addiction on sleep quality among medical students of SKIMS Medical College, Srinagar. Materials and Methods: This cross-sectional study was conducted on 236 medical students from October 2017 to December 2017 using a self-administered questionnaire consisting of three parts sociodemographic characteristics, smartphone addiction scale (SAS-SV), and Pittsburgh sleep quality index (PSQI). Pearson correlation coefficient was used to correlate SAS scores and PQSI scores. Results: The prevalence of smartphone addiction in this study was found out to be 34.4%. 62.7% were poor sleepers as assessed by PQSI scores. There was a positive correlation between overall PQSI scores and SAS scores. In the subgroups, the correlation was significant for males and those residing in the hostel. Correlations were highly significant for younger age group (17–19) and 1st year of study. Conclusion: Excessive use of smartphones is prevalent among medical students and is related to poor sleep quality. This study further brings out the importance of the availability of counseling services to medical students, so that those already addicted can be helped and provided with remedial measures.