Relationship between Sleep Quality and Internet Addiction among First Year Medical Students in a Government Medical College in West Bengal: A Cross-sectional Study

Introduction: Internet overuse has emerged progressively and the pathological use of the internet-conceptualised as 'internet addiction'- a menace which disturbs the sleep quality in a community. There is not much evidence proving the association of internet addiction and sleep disturbances and the severity of this association remains unclear. Aim: To find out the association between internet addictions and sleep quality among undergraduates in a Government Medical College in West Bengal, India. Materials and Methods: This was cross-sectional observational study conducted among 211 undergraduate medical students from January 2019-March 2019 using a pre designed pre tested structured self-administered questionnaire, which consisted of information on the socio-demographic profile and lifestyle questions, Pittsburg Quality of Sleep Index (PQSI) scale and the Internet Addiction Test (IAT) scale. The participants were divided into two groups: PSQI score <= 5 (good sleep quality) and those with PSQI score >5 (poor sleep quality) and IAT scores. Statistical analysis was done using the statistical software of Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) version 23.0. Independent sample t-test (continuous variables) and Fisher's-exact test (categorical variables) were used to analyse the significance of difference in demographic data and IAT scores and PSQI scores between the groups. Results: Students with poor quality of sleep were having high IAT scores compared to ones with good quality of sleep and this finding was statistically significant ( p-value < 0.001). Among all participants 33.2% were "moderate users or possible addicts" of internet. Approximately, 49.3% of all participants had poor sleep quality and rest of them had good quality of sleep as per PSQI scale. Mean IAT score was significantly higher among participants living on campus (p=0.006) as compared to ones residing off campus. As far as sleep quality was concerned, mean PSQI scores were significantly higher among participants who were aged more than 20 years and among those who were involved in "less than three times per week physical activity" (p=0.028 and 0.004, respectively). Conclusion: Quality sleep is a key to good health and internet addiction should not hamper it. Proper counseling if needed should be done to attain it.