Prevalence of sleep disturbances and its relationship with mobile phone overuse among an Iranian sample of students: a necessity for attention

Abstract Background and objectives Sleep disturbances are recognized as a potential core feature of some major psychiatric conditions, and overuse of mobile phones in recent years can leave potential negative effects on this central feature, which is especially important to assess among students. Our study aimed to investigate the prevalence of sleep disturbances and its relationship with mobile phone overuse among an Iranian sample of university students. Methods After 406 Iranian students from the Birjand University of Medical Sciences completed the demographic data, Mobile Phone Problematic Use Scale (MPPUS), and Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI) questionnaires, data were analyzed using independent t -test, analysis of variance, and Pearson correlation coefficient. Results 74.4% of individuals had a moderate to severe problem with their subjective sleep quality, and 33.7% had moderate to severe problems with delay in falling asleep. Additionally, 44.1% of individuals experienced mild to moderate problems in sleep duration, and most of them (97.3%) severely suffered from inadequate sleep efficiency. In terms of sleep disorders, 78.8% of individuals reported a mild problem. Furthermore, most individuals (81.3%) have not used sleep-inducing medications to fall asleep, and in terms of daily dysfunction, 75.57% individuals had mild to moderate problems. Additionally, a significant positive correlation of 0.244 was observed between the score of sleep disturbances and mobile phone overuse ( P < 0.05). Conclusions The prevalence of sleep disturbances was quite considerable, and there was a significant positive relationship between excessive mobile phone use and sleep disturbances among the target group.