A study of mobile phone usage on sleep disturbance, stress and academic performance among medical students in Tamil Nadu

Abstract

Background: Today’s world has led students to mobile phone as a mode of communication and social networking. This also has bought about psychological dependency towards mobile phones which causes sleep deprivation and increased stress affecting them academically. However, very few studies were conducted among medical students. Hence, this study was attempted with an objective to assess the effect of mobile phone usage on sleep disturbance, stress and academic performance among under graduate medical students.Methods: An observational Study was conducted among under graduate medical students in KIMS, Tamil Nadu, during September to November 2016. Among first to final year students 203 were selected by simple random sampling. Data were collected after obtaining the consent using a self administered questionnaire, containing demographic details, variables on mobile usages, PSQI and PSS scales. Mean, median, standard deviation and percentages were calculated; Chi square test and correlation coefficient were calculated at 5% level of significance.Results: Among 203 study participants everyone had smart phones which were used for communication and social media. The hours of usage of mobile ranged from 5 minutes to 10 hours per day. Most of them (61%) used during night hours, 72.4% of the study participants had poor sleep quality, 66.5% had moderate stress, 14.8% had severe stress. There was significant association of poor sleep quality and academic performance with mobile phone usage (p<0.01).Conclusions: There is an association of mobile phone usage with sleep quality and academic performance.