Lockdown Led to Excessive Phone Usage of Students

University students make excessive use of their mobile phones, says a recent study published by researchers from the University of Sevill. This study shows the relation between the number of hours spent by young people by sitting down, their level of physical activity and state of mind while using a mobile phone.

The study revealed that students who have lower levels of physical activity used their mobile phones almost three times more than the others. Also, those who reported poorer sleep quality used these devices more.

Another recent publication by the same research group analysed these issues in greater detail and showed that young people (university students aged 20-36) used their mobile phone on an average of 6 hours per day before lockdown, increasing it to over 8 hours per day during lockdown.

"These data are very worrying if we consider that scientific evidence shows that a high number of hours sitting (more than 8 h/day) or an excessive use of screen devices (3-4 h/day) is linked with a higher risk of mortality," restates US professor Borja Sañudo.

The conclusions of the research reveal that the containment measures adopted during COVID-19 had a major impact on the habits of this demographic group, especially on their physical activity levels which decreased significantly, but also on their sedentary lifestyle, increasing the time they remained seated.

These bad habits had a negative impact on the health of these young people and significantly deteriorated their sleep quality.

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Studies such as these highlight the necessity of taking measures that encourage people to avoid a sedentary lifestyle, contributing to enhancing physical activity levels and decreasing the use of mobile phones, and hence improving the population's health through behavioral changes.

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Source-Medindia