The effect of internet addiction on sleep quality among students of Hormozgan University of Medical Sciences in 2021

Internet addiction is a type of behavioral disorder. One of the most common complications of this disorder is low sleep quality. Therefore, the present study was conducted to investigate the effects of Internet addiction on the sleep quality of students of Hormozgan University of Medical Sciences in 2021.

In this cross-sectional study, 389 students from Hormozgan University of Medical Sciences in 2021 were selected by proportional stratified sampling. The data were collected using demographic, Young Internet addiction, and Pittsburgh sleep quality questionnaires. The data were analyzed using SPSS software and descriptive statistics such as mean, standard deviation, percentage and frequency and analytical statistics of One-way ANOVA.  

About 1% (4) of participants had severe internet addiction and about 24% (96) had moderate internet addiction. Participants with severe internet addiction (11.5±2.88675) had poorer sleep quality than other groups. However, the mean score of the sleep quality questionnaire in non-addicted participants was 6.2852±3.0248, which was also higher than normal. The scores of all the sections of sleep quality except sleep efficiency were higher in addicted students.

The results of the present study show the high prevalence of Internet usage among students and also there was a significant negative relationship between Internet addiction and sleep quality. Given that Internet addiction can have inevitable effects on various aspects of health; the proper planning must be done to control the activities of students in Internet.