Comparison of sleep quality and internet addiction among medical and engineering students in Eastern India
1 Associate Professor, Physiology, Dr B C Roy Multi Speciality Medical Research Centre, IIT Kharagpur, Kharagpur, India.
2 Assistant Professor (Grade I), Physiology, Dr B C Roy Multi Speciality Medical Research Centre, IIT Kharagpur, Kharagpur, India.
3 Assistant Professor (Grade I), Pathology, Dr B C Roy Multi Speciality Medical Research Centre, IIT Kharagpur, Kharagpur, India.
4 Associate Professor, Microbiology, College of Medicine &JNM Hospital, Kalyani, WBUHS, India.
Research Article
International Journal of Science and Technology Research Archive, 2025, 09(02), 009-019.
Article DOI: 10.53771/ijstra.2025.9.2.0060
Publication history:
Received on 16 September 2025; revised on 08 November 2025; accepted on 11 November 2025
Abstract:
Introduction: Sleep is essential for mental health of all ages. Sleep deprivation leads to cognitive disturbances, behavioural changes, fatigue and even accidents. Internet addiction is an individual's inability to control their use of internet causing disturbances and impairment in social and personal commitments. Engineering and medical students are the major groups of society suffering from abnormal sleep and Internet addiction leading to poor academic performance. The aim of this study was to compare sleep quality and Internet addiction among Medical and Engineering students during their first academic year in Eastern India.
Materials and methods: It was a Descriptive, Epidemiological, Institution based Cross-sectional study. Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index and Internet Addiction test Questionnaire were administered to young healthy medical and engineering students at three different stages of first professional year to measure sleep quality and internet addiction.
Results: Poor sleep was found to be prevalent in 55% of the participants, in all the 3 phases of the year with a considerable proportion (45%) reporting Mild Internet addiction. Both Medical and Engineering students had the poorest sleep quality just before their examination, whereas the best quality of sleep was experienced at the middle of the year. The Medical students experienced worse quality of sleep compared to their Engineering counterparts.
Conclusion: A high prevalence of poor sleep quality and Mild Internet Addiction was found among undergraduate students in Medicine and Engineering. Higher sleep disturbances were found among medical students than Engineering peers. Students should be targeted with Counselling programs with goal of sleep improvement.
Keywords:
Sleep Quality; Internet Addiction; Mental Disorders; Cross-Sectional Study; Medical Students; Engineering
Full text article in PDF:
Copyright information:
Copyright © 2025 Author(s) retain the copyright of this article. This article is published under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Liscense 4.0