0971 SLEEP PATTERN AND USE OF ELECTRONIC DEVICES IN SOUTH-WESTERN NIGERIAN SCHOOL ATTENDING ADOLESCENTS

Abstract

Introduction: Sleep problems have been reported to be very common in children and adolescents with many having insufficient sleep. The use of electronic devices and sleep pattern in adolescents has not been well studied in many developing countries. Thus, this study sought to determine the sleep pattern in Nigerian adolescents and their use of electronic devices. Methods: A descriptive cross-sectional study in which 301 adolescents were studied from nine high schools in Ile-Ife, South-Western Nigeria using multistage sampling technique and a structured questionnaire modified from the adolescent sleep habit survey. Results: A total 301 adolescents were studied and majority are females (51.8%) with mean age of 14 years and a male-to-female ratio of 1:1.1. The subjective sleep need for majority of the students is 10 hours of sleep and the total sleep duration is 8 hours and 47 minutes, 7 hours and 50 minutes for weekends and weekdays respectively. The respondents have a total of 1 hour, 13 minutes and 2 hours, 10 minutes sleep deficit on weekends and weekdays respectively. However, the total time in bed on weekends and weekdays is 9 hours and 8 hours respectively with sleep onset latency in addition to time awake after sleep onset being 13 minutes and 10 minutes respectively. Less than half of the respondents (46.2%) use or have access to a computer, of which majority are males (23.6%) and the computer are mostly owned by their parents (16.9%). Majority of the students have no access to TV games (56.5%), pc games (65.1%), MP3 (55.8%) while most of the respondents watches TV several times during the day (68.8%) and use cell phone (66.8%). Conclusion: Insufficient sleep (sleep deficit > 2 hours) occur in most of the adolescents on weekdays. Use of cell phone and watching TV are common in the high school adolescents. There is need to educate them on need for adequate sleep and dangers of prolonged use of electronic devices.