A survey Study of Social Media Addiction and Quality of Sleep Among College Students and Clinical Study of Bhramari Pranayama on Sleep Quality

The relationship between sleep and cognitive function

has been a topic of interest for over a century. Well-controlled

sleep studies conducted with healthy adults have shown that

better sleep improves cognitive functions, learning and memory

through strengthening specific synaptic connections. Sleep is

thought to play a crucial and specific role in memory

consolidation. However, the general understanding is that

specific synaptic connections that were active during awake-

periods are strengthened during sleep, allowing for the

consolidation of memory, and synaptic connections that were

inactive are weakened. Thus, sleep provides an essential

function for memory consolidation (allowing us to remember

what has been studied), which in turn is critical for successful

academic performance.

In recent years, significant changes have taken place

around the world regarding the quantitative and qualitative

expansion of internet, social networks and number of people

who use them. Instagram, Telegram, Facebook, Twitter, Skype,

and WhatsApp are among the most popular and commonly used

virtual social networks. Currently (2018), the number of internet

users in the world is about 4.021 billion and 3.196 billion people

use social networks on a regular basis worldwide. The

emergence of new technologies such as internet and social

networks, in addition to providing opportunities in facilitating

and improving the quality of global communications, has created

some threats. When the use of social networks is managed

poorly, they can have negative consequences at the individual

and social levels. Social networking addiction is one of the

consequences that many social network users may experience.

Thus, the extensive use of social networks is a new form of soft

addiction.

Bhramari Pranayama is recommended by the traditional

yogic-literatures particularly for: effectively reducing stress

and improving the quality of sleep. However, there is no

modern scientific evidence to support these specific benefits

from Bhramari Pranayama. Hence this study was undertaken,

to evaluate the effect of Bhramari Pranayama practice on sleep

quality in college students.