DETERMINING PATTERN OF SMARTPHONE USAGE AND ASSOCIATION OF ACADEMIC STRESS WITH SLEEP QUALITY OF FIRST-YEAR MEDICAL UNDERGRADUATE STUDENTS - A CROSS-SECTIONAL STUDY

Introduction:Medical students, encounter considerable stress during prolonged study periods,especially during their exams, and together with excessive smartphone usage for studies and social networking are vulnerable to lack of sleep. Humans require adequate sleep to survive, as it greatly influences ones capacity for productive and effective daily performance. According to several studies, sleep-deprived students may experience headaches, muscle aches, sweating, palpitations,insomnia, nightmares, difficulties falling asleep, etc.

Methods:Methods for gathering data included a pre-structured &pre-designed questionnaire for Smartphone Usage, Perceived Academic Stress (PAS) Scale & Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI). Surveyed 184 first-year medical students of U.P.U.M.S., Saifai, Etawah.

Results:Out of 184 students (116 male and 68 female) the Screen time of Smartphones exceeds 3 hours in 44.6% (82) students, 168 students (91.3%) used their smartphone after 10 pm and 51 students (27.7%) students reported difficulty in eyes or refractive error due to smartphone usage. 86 students (46.7%) think smartphone usage has a negative impact on their sleep quality. The Mean±Standard Deviation of the Perceived Academic Stress (PAS) Scale for all Subjects was 60.11 ± 11.29(>60 is High Academic Stress and that of Global PSQI Scores was 9.15 ± 0.58 (>5 associated with poor sleep quality). The association between the variables was determined by analysis of variance that is the value of significance or the p-value was p = 0.0001.

Conclusion: The findings of this study led us to the significant association between academic stress with sleep quality. There is high academic stress among the studentsand the pattern of their smartphone usage has a negative impact on their sleep quality.