Electronic Devices and Social Networks Use Out of School and Sleep Conditions: What is the Role of Sports?

Abstract

Background: It is expected that children involved in daily physical activities and/or sports should be protected from the risk associated with the sedentary profile in sleep conditions. This is because physical activity is a protective behavior and is inversely associated with the early development of risk factors in the young population. Although there are many studies including sleep conditions and physical activity, we still do not know whether regular sports practice could be associated with better sleep conditions. Therefore, this study has the following objectives, (1): to determine which are the most common electronic display devices related to sleep time and conditions; (2) determine which is the most common social network application such as Facebook, Tik-Tok, Instagram, Twitter and WhatsApp associated with sleep time and conditions and (3) verify the role of sports engagement as protective behavior in these relationships. Methods: Cross-sectional study, with 1101 Spanish adolescents, between 12 and 17 years old. Age, sex, sleep, psychosocial health, adherence to the Mediterranean diet, adherence to sport, and time spent on screen devices were assessed by questionnaire. Linear regression was applied, adjusting the associated variables. Poisson regression was applied between the sexes. Values of p<0.05 were considered significant. The analyzes were performed using the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences 27.0. Results: the cell phone was more associated with sleep time. In boys, time spent on cell phones and video games had a higher prevalence ratio. When psychosocial health was included in the models, we found the greatest association. For girls, time spent on the cell phone was significantly associated with sleep quality, and adherence to the Mediterranean diet became the second most important in the model, followed by psychosocial health and cell phone use. Time spent on WhatsApp was associated with sleep quality only among girls and was the most important variable in the model along with diet and psychosocial health. Conclusions: Our results suggest a strong relationship between cell phones, video games and social networks with sleep quality and time.