Influence of smartphone addiction on sleep quality of college students: The regulatory effect of physical exercise behavior

Due to the high incidence of smartphone addiction and its harmful effects on health in recent years, it has received widespread attention from society. This study aims to examine the association between smartphone addiction and sleep quality among college students, and assess the correlation with physical exercise in a non-interventional, cross-sectional study design. The study utilized data from the 2022 Chinese College Health Tracking Survey. A total of 4670 students participated in and completed the questionnaire. The test tools comprised the smartphone addiction tendency scale, the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index, and the physical activity rating scale. The average score of the college students’ smartphone addiction was 39.230±14.931, and the proportion of college students with average and or very poor sleep quality was 52.6%. Mobile phone addiction among college students is negatively correlated with physical exercise (r = -0.101, p<0.01), and positively correlated with sleep quality (r = 0.287, p<0.01. Physical exercise had a significant regulatory effect on the behavior relationship between smartphone addiction and sleep quality (ΔR 2 = 0.194, p<0.001). Smartphone addiction has a significant impact on college students’ sleep quality. The higher the tendency towards smartphone addiction, the poorer the sleep quality of college students. Physical exercise plays a regulatory role in the relationship between smartphone addiction and sleep quality of college students.