Patterns of Bedtime Screen Use and Sleep Quality Among Future Healthcare Professionals: A Cross-Sectional study
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.47203/IJCH.2026.v38i01.028Keywords:
Bedtime screen use, sleep quality, healthcare professionals, students, puducherryAbstract
Background: Bedtime screen use (BSU) has become pervasive among young adults, particularly students in health-related fields which contributes to poor sleep quality. Objective: To determine the prevalence of BSU and its association with sleep quality among medical and paramedical students in Puducherry. Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted from February-April 2025 among 611 medical and paramedical students at a private university in Puducherry. The questionnaire included questions related to BSU and Sleep Quality (PSQI). Data was analyzed using SPSS v24. Results: BSU was reported in 83.5% of students, with smartphones being the predominant device (91.2%). Among them, females were more likely to engage in BSU. Students from dental and residing off-campus away from family had three- and eight-times higher odds of BSU, respectively. While medical and AHS students had significantly higher odds of poor sleep quality. Students residing off-campus away from family were nearly three times more likely to have poor sleep quality. BSU was associated with longer sleep latency, shorter sleep duration, daytime dysfunction, and higher global PSQI scores (p<0.05). Conclusion: BSU is highly prevalent among future healthcare professionals and associated with impaired sleep quality.
Downloads
References
Hale L, Kirschen GW, LeBourgeois MK, Gradisar M, Garrison MM, Montgomery-Downs H, et al. Youth screen media habits and sleep: sleep-friendly screen-behavior recommendations for clinicians, educators, and parents. Child Adolesc Psychiatr Clin N Am.2018;27(2):229–45.
Silvani MI, Werder R, Perret C. The influence of blue light on sleep, performance and wellbeing in young adults: A systematic review. Front Physiol.2022;13:943108.
Song, Boxuan. The effects of screen time on teen sleep. Scholarly Review Journal; 2025;13:1-12
Jniene A, Errguig L, El Hangouche AJ, Rkain H, Aboudrar S, El Ftouh M, et al. Perception of Sleep Disturbances due to Bedtime Use of Blue Light-Emitting Devices and Its Impact on Habits and Sleep Quality among Young Medical Students. BioMed Res Int. 2019;2019:7012350.
Krishnan B, Sanjeev RK, Latti RG. Quality of Sleep Among Bedtime Smartphone Users. Int J Prev Med.2020;11(1):114.
Elsheikh AA, Elsharkawy SA, Ahmed DS. Impact of smartphone use at bedtime on sleep quality and academic activities among medical students at Al -Azhar University at Cairo. J Public Health.2024;32(11):2091–100.
Laishram J, Fernandez S, Devi PA, Bhowmick MR, Heigrujam R, Devi HS. Sleep quality and mental health among medical students in Imphal, Manipur: A cross-sectional study. J Fam Med Prim Care.2025;14(1):276–82.
Paulraj D, Loganathan V, Gola A, Kar SS. Household healthcare expenditure: A cross-sectional analysis of urban and rural Puducherry, South India. J Fam Med Prim Care.2025;14(6):2458–83.
Chatterjee S, Kar SK. Smartphone Addiction and Quality of Sleep among Indian Medical Students. Psychiatry.2021;84(2):182–91.
Lwanga SK, Lemeshow S. Sample size determination in health studies: a practical manual (Internet). World Health Organization; 1991 (cited 03/02/2026). Available from: https://apps.who.int/iris/handle/10665/40062
Shahid A, Wilkinson K, Marcu S, Shapiro CM. Pittsburgh sleep quality index (PSQI). InSTOP, THAT and one hundred other sleep scales 2011 Nov 24 (pp. 279-283). New York, NY: Springer New York.
Anand A, Mandal I, Hossain S. B.G. Prasad Scale 2025: An Updated Framework for Socioeconomic Assessment in India. Natl J Community Med.2025;16(05):555–8.
Sharma M, Bedi R, Khanna M, et al. The Impact of Bedtime Smartphone Usage on Sleep Quality among Undergraduate Medical Students. Indian J Sleep Med.2025;20(1):1–5.
Smith C, de Wilde T, Taylor RW, Galland BC. Prebedtime Screen Use in Adolescents: A Survey of Habits, Barriers, and Perceived Acceptability of Potential Interventions. J Adolesc Health.2020;66(6):725–32.
Nagata JM, Shim J, Ramappa S, Deshpande I, Low P, Kiss O, et al. Social epidemiology of bedtime screen use behaviors and sleep outcomes in early adolescence. Sleep Health. 2025;S2352721825000919.
Zeng Y, Zhang J, Wei J, Li S. The Impact of Undergraduates’ Social Isolation on Smartphone Addiction: The Roles of Academic Anxiety and Social Media Use. Int J Environ Res Public Health.2022;19(23):15903.
Wang Y, Ma Q. The impact of social isolation on smartphone addiction among college students: the multiple mediating effects of loneliness and COVID-19 anxiety. Front Psychol.2024;15:1391415.
Khaksarian M, Behzadifar M, Behzadifar M, Jahanpanah F, Guglielmi O, Garbarino S, et al. Sleep Disturbances Rate among Medical and Allied Health Professions Students in Iran: Implications from a Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of the Literature. Int J Environ Res Public Health.2020;17(3):1011.
Sinha S, Dhooria S, Sasi A, Tomer A, Thejeswar N, Kumar S, et al. A study on the effect of mobile phone use on sleep. Indian J Med Res.2022;155(3–4):380–6.
Chang AM, Aeschbach D, Duffy JF, Czeisler CA. Evening use of light-emitting eReaders negatively affects sleep, circadian timing, and next-morning alertness. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.2015;112(4):1232-7.
Cajochen C, Frey S, Anders D, Späti J, Bues M, Pross A, et al. Evening exposure to a light-emitting diodes (LED)-backlit computer screen affects circadian physiology and cognitive performance. J Appl Physiol Bethesda Md.2011;110(5):1432–8.
Downloads
Published
How to Cite
License
Copyright (c) 2026 Jenifer Florence Mary, Lalithambigai Chellamuthu Ilango, malar ilango, Thamizhmaran Sundararajan, Sindu Kanagalingam
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.
