Smartphone Excessive Use, Sleep, and Beliefs about Well-being in University Students who Practice Yoga Compared with Those with No Experience of Yoga

BACKGROUND: Addictive behavior can be effectively managed with yoga. This study compared smartphone use, self-rated sleep, and beliefs about well-being in university students who practiced yoga regularly with those who did not. MATERIALS AND METHODS: One hundred and forty-two university students (average age ± standard deviation: 20.2 ± 2.2; male: female = 1:1) who practiced yoga (90 min a day, 6 days a week, and 29.7 months) were compared for smartphone excessive use, self-rated sleep, and beliefs about well-being, with an equal number of comparable age- and gender-distributed university students who did not practice yoga. RESULTS: The yoga group had lower scores on the short version of the Smartphone Addiction Scale with fewer nocturnal episodes of checking their smartphone. The nonyoga group reported longer nocturnal sleep time compared to the yoga group, whereas there was no significant difference in the beliefs about well-being scores between the two groups. CONCLUSIONS: University students who practice yoga may be less likely to use a smartphone excessively as well as have uninterrupted sleep than students who do not practice yoga.