Screen Time Duration and Its Association with Sleep Disorders in Medical Students
Rebwar Ghareeb Hama
Branch of Clinical Sciences, College of Medicine, University of Sulaimani, Iraq.
Azita Zana Yassin
Branch of Clinical Sciences, College of Medicine, University of Sulaimani, Iraq.
Muhammed Hemn Muhammed Gharib
*
Branch of Clinical Sciences, College of Medicine, University of Sulaimani, Iraq.
*Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.
Abstract
Background: Digital device uses such as smartphones, tablets, laptops and even modern televisions are widely used by university students from all fields, and especially medical students. These electronic devices have become essential to the students’ academic and social life. Recent evidence shows that prolonged screen exposure during evening and late-night hours, might affect sleep quality negatively because of their continuous and long-term use, and leading to a poorer sleep quality. Medical students are therefore at more risk to face sleep problems due to their studying schedules that require screen-based device during their studying time.
Objectives: To describe the associations between electronic device use and sleep quality among medical students of different universities in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq.
Methods: The research was done as a questionnaire based Cross-sectional study among undergraduate medical students from different medical colleges across the Kurdistan Region of Iraq between March and April 2024. Data were collected by using an online survey distributed through Google Forms. The questionnaire included these data (sociodemographic information, sleep characteristics, and screen use pattern). Sleep characteristic measurements included bedtime, wake-up time, sleep latency, sleep duration, and subjective sleep quality. Data were analyzed using IBM SPSS Statistics version 27, and descriptive statistics and comparing the analyses were performed to explore associations between device use and sleep outcomes.
Results: With the response of total 331 medical student who participated in study from different medical colleges of Kurdistan Region of Iraq. In average their mean age was 21 years old and 59.3% of the students were female. Approximately half of the participants were in pre-clinical stages and the other half in clinical stages. About 70.7% of students reported using electronic devices before bedtime. The average sleep duration was about 7 hours per night, the mean sleep quality score was 4.05 ± 2.26 on a 10-point scale, and the mean sleep latency was 20.77 ± 8.10 minutes. Students that used electronic devices before bedtime reported slightly poorer sleep quality and longer sleep latency compared to those that did not use devices before sleep. These mentioned differences were not statistically significant even though screen use before sleep continuously was resulting in later bed times.
Conclusion: The usage of electronic screen-based devices before bedtime is highly frequent among medical students in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq. While bedtime device use showed a tendency toward poorer sleep quality, but their relationship in this study was not statistically significant. The results show the widespread relation of digital devices into student’s routines and explaining the need and necessity for further research on behavioral factors influencing sleep health among medical students.
Keywords: Electronic devices, medical students, screen time, sleep latency, sleep quality, smartphones