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. 2022 Mar;155(3&4):380-386.
doi: 10.4103/ijmr.ijmr_2221_21.

A study on the effect of mobile phone use on sleep

Sanjeev Sinha  1 , Sahajal Dhooria  2 , Archana Sasi  1 , Aditi Tomer  1 , N Thejeswar  1 , Sanchit Kumar  1 , Gaurav Gupta  1 , R M Pandey  3 , Digambar Behera  2 , Alladi Mohan  4 , Surendra Kumar Sharma  5
Affiliations

A study on the effect of mobile phone use on sleep

Sanjeev Sinha et al. Indian J Med Res. 2022 Mar.

Abstract

Background & objectives: Several studies have been conducted globally to assess the impact of usage of mobile phones on quality and duration of sleep as also on day time sleepiness. The objective of the present study was to assess the effect of mobile phone usage on the quality and composition of sleep in a sample from Indian population.

Methods: The study was conducted at two tertiary care hospitals in north India from July 2014 to September 2019. A total of 566 participants were recruited in this study from both the centres. Sleep quality was assessed with the help of the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI) questionnaire. Subsequently, actigraphy was done in 96 participants and polysomnography in 95 participants.

Results: Of the 566 participants, 128 (22.61%) had PSQI ≥5, reflecting poor sleep quality. A higher use of mobile phone was significantly associated with a poor sleep quality as a component of PSQI questionnaire (P=0.01) and higher overall PSQI score (P=0.01). The latency from sleep onset to N2 and N3 sleep stages was significantly shorter in participants having a higher mobile phone usage as compared to those with a lower usage [Median (range): 13.5 min (1.5-109) vs. 6.5 min (0-89); P=0.02] and [Median (range): 49 min (8.5-220.5) vs. 28.75 min (0-141); P=0.03], respectively.

Interpretation & conclusions: This study focused on the maladaptive changes brought on by mobile phone usage on sleep. More studies with larger sample sizes need to be done that may serve to confirm the hypothesis generating findings of our study.

Keywords: Actigraphy; Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index; mobile phone; polysomnography; sleep.

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Conflict of interest statement

Conflicts of Interest: None.

Figures

Figure
Figure
Histogram showing the association between mobile phone use in terms frequency of calls and short message services (low vs. high) and the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index score low vs. high
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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