Internet overuse and excessive daytime sleepiness in adolescents

Abstract

Aim:The purpose of this study was to examine the association of Internet overuse with excessive daytime sleepiness (EDS).Methods: A total of 2336 high school students in South Korea (boys, 57.5%; girls, 42.5%) completed the structured questionnaire. The severity of Internet addiction was evaluated using Young's Internet addiction test. Results:The proportions of boys who were classified as Internet addicts and possible Internet addicts were 2.5% and 53.7%, respectively. For girls, the corresponding proportions were 1.9% and 38.9%, respectively. The prevalence of EDS was 11.2% (boys, 11.2%; girls, 11.1%). When Internet addicts were compared with non-addicts, they consisted of more boys, drank alcohol more, and considered their own health condition as poor. But smoking was not related with Internet addiction. The prevalence rate of EDS for Internet addicts was 37.7%, whereas that for possible Internet addicts and non-addicts was 13.9% and 7.4%, respectively. The prevalence of insomnia, witnessed snoring, apnea, teeth grinding, and nightmares was highest in Internet addicts, middle in possible addicts, and lowest in nonaddicts. With adjustment for duration of Internet use, duration of sleep time, age, gender, smoking, taking painkillers due to headache, insomnia symptoms, witnessed apnea, and nightmares, the odds of EDS were 5.2-fold greater (95% confidence interval [CI]: 2.7-10.2) in Internet addicts and 1.9-fold greater (95%CI: 1.4-2.6) in possible Internet addicts compared to non-addicts. Conclusion:Internet addiction is strongly associated with EDS in adolescents. Clinicians should consider examining Internet addiction in adolescent cases of EDS.

Internet Addiction: A Systematic Review of Epidemiological Research for the Last Decade

“…A total of seven studies used the IAT for Internet addiction assessment in adolescents and children aged 8 to 24 years [61][62][63][64][65][66][67], with sample sizes ranging from 1,618 [65] to 17,599 participants [63]. Although the same measurement instrument has been used in these studies, various cut-offs have been applied to demarcate addiction or excessive use across studies.…”

“…Comorbid symptoms have included alcohol and substance use [47,48,51,65,66,71,74,82,86], proneness for problem behaviours [82], depression [48,50,67,68,78,81,83,87,124], suicidal ideation [124][105], ADHD [67,79,157], social phobia and phobic anxiety [79,84,87], schizophrenia, obsessive-compulsive disorder [67], psychoticism [71], and antisocial/aggressive behaviours [48,72,79,80,87]. Finally, a number of psychosomatic problems have been linked to problematic Internet use, such as a poor health condition, excessive daytime sleepiness [66], lack of energy, physiological dysfunction, weakened immunity [63], obesity, and poor vision [49].…”

Impact of internet use on lifestyle in undergraduate medical students

“…A study undertaken on Taiwanese college students identified sleep deprivation as an important negative consequence of excessive internet use 1 . Excessive daytime sleepiness was recorded as an important finding among internet addicts in a study undertaken on Korean adolescents 4 . These results significantly imply the dependence behaviour of internet addicts, who use the internet indiscriminately, at the expense of more important and purposeful activities of day to day life.…”

“…Also, this could have a negative impact on their lifestyle, with a gradual transformation to a more sedentary lifestyle. Some cross-sectional studies have shown that internet addiction has an adverse effect on several lifestyle-related factors in adolescents; it can result in irregular dietary habits, extended periods of time spent on the internet 2 , physical inactivity and short duration of sleep 3,4 . Also, with late night internet use, as is often the case with adolescents, the quantity and quality of sleep is significantly compromised.…”

“…Also, with late night internet use, as is often the case with adolescents, the quantity and quality of sleep is significantly compromised. A study on high school students in Korea found a strong correlation between internet addiction and excessive daytime sleepiness as an index of poor sleep quality 4 . Spending long hours online while compromising on hobbies and recreation can also hamper one's creativity and holistic development.…”