Impact Of Screen Time Exposure On Sleeping Habits Amongst Young Adults

Abstract

Background: Lack of adequate sleep affects the mental health, emotional balance, immune function and reaction times. The alarming sedentary habit which would affect the sleep quality in the recent time is screen media exposure or increased screen time. Moderate use of ST (4hours/day) associated with lower psychological well-being. Objective: To study the association between ST usage and sleep quality amongst young adults.Material And Methods: The study was conducted among medical students at Physiology department, Government medical college, Vadodara. Google form was created, which consisted of basic information. Self-reported ST usage per day. PSQI scale assessed 7 components of sleep scaling from 0 to 3, and higher global score (>5) means lower sleep quality. The Google form was sent to participants who were given informed consent and the results were computed. Result: Among 204 participants, 78 males and 126 females, the median age was 19 years, the mean duration of screen time was 5.3 Hrs. (SD=2.7). ST > 5 Hrs. in 57.8% and PSQI ≥5 in 52.9% was seen. Chi Square test analysis for ST & PSQI, the p-value came out to be 0.094(p-value > 0.005), and was not statistically significant. Conclusion: This study shows more than half of participants had poor sleep quality and increased screen time usage. Though the results came out statistically insignificant we cannot exclude the association without further research. However, exposure to high screen time may negatively impact sleep outcome. [D S Natl J Integr Res Med, 2022; 13(2): 67-70, Published on Dated:10/02/2022]