The effects of Smartphone use on Sleep quality and Chronotype

O'Reilly, James (2018) The effects of Smartphone use on Sleep quality and Chronotype. Undergraduate thesis, Dublin, National College of Ireland.

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Abstract

Smartphone use is ubiquitous in modern day society however, its prevalence is a factor in increased light-at-night exposure. This light exposure before sleep has negative implications for sleep such as increasing alertness, delaying the onset of sleep and reducing sleep-promoting hormones. This study aimed to address the inconsistently in the literature by using a Smartphone application to track phone use, and using a student population as they are largely effected by both new emerging technology and poor sleep quality. This study examined whether smartphone use was associated with poor sleep quality using a direct measure of phone use Secondly it set out to examine whether an individual’s Chronotype was associated smartphone. To examine this, 29 students downloaded the smartphone application “Quality time” which provided an objective measure of smartphone use and competed questionnaires on sleep quality (Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index) and Chronotype (Morningness Eveningness Questionnaire). Results found that neither Chronotype nor overall sleep quality impacted on levels of smartphone usage. However, higher smartphone usage was correlated with higher daytime dysfunction. In conclusion, the current study indicates that smartphone does not have a negative effect on overall self-reported sleep quality but does impact on daytime dysfunction. Future research could use even more objective measures to collect sleep information to measure each variable to the highest levels of reliability.

Item Type:	Thesis (Undergraduate)
Subjects:	B Philosophy. Psychology. Religion > Psychology Q Science > QA Mathematics > Computer software > Mobile Phone Applications T Technology > T Technology (General) > Information Technology > Computer software > Mobile Phone Applications
Divisions:	School of Business > BA (Honours) in Psychology
Depositing User:	Caoimhe Ní Mhaicín
Date Deposited:	23 Oct 2018 10:59
Last Modified:	23 Oct 2018 10:59
URI:	https://norma.ncirl.ie/id/eprint/3286

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