Improper Use of the Internet and Its Relationship with Daytime Sleepiness in Medical Sciences Students at Ardabil University of Medical Sciences

The Internet is used for different activities by many on a daily basis. The problematic internet use (PIU) is related to poor academic and job performances and also sleep problems. The purpose of this study was to investigate the prevalence of problematic internet use and its relationship with daytime sleepiness (DS).

A descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted on 280 medical students of the Ardabil University of Medical Sciences. Medical students were entered into the study using the convenience sampling method and were interviewed using the PIU and Epworth questionnaire. The statistical analysis was done by SPSS Version 23 using the chi-square test, Student’s t-test and Pearson’s correlation. Univariate linear regression analysis was applied to find the relation between PIU and DS.

The mean age of participants in the study was 23.93 years with an SD of 2.25. Most of the participants were 23-25 years old. The obtained results showed that 33.6% of the participants had normal scores followed by 44.8% mild disorder, 18.4% moderate disorder, and 2.3% severe disorder. The daily prevalence of daytime sleepiness was 11.6%. There was a positive correlation between the improper use of the Internet and daytime sleepiness.

PIU associated strongly with daytime sleepiness. Students should be educated and informed about the problematic internet use.