Reducing Smartphone Addiction Through Calisthenic Exercises: A Randomized Controlled Trial

Abstract

Purpose Smartphone addiction has become widespread, whereas physical activity-despite its proven benefits-has been declining in recent years. The first aim of this study was to investigate the effects of calisthenic-exercise training programs on smartphone addiction in young adults. The second aim was to examine the effects of calisthenic exercise on sleep and headaches. Methods A total of 40 participants were randomly divided into two groups: the calisthenic-exercise group (CalExG) in which participants performed calisthenic exercises 3 times a day for 8 weeks, and the control group (CG) in which participants did not perform any application. Smartphone addiction, sleep quality, and headache were assessed with the Smartphone Addiction scale short form (SAS-SF), Pittsburgh sleep quality index (PSQI), and visual analog scale (VAS), respectively. Results Within-group analyses revealed that participants in the CalExG had significant decrease in SAS-SF, PSQI, and VAS-headache scores (p < .01). There was no significant difference in all evaluated parameters of the participants in the CG (p > .05). Although there was a decrease in all parameters in the CalExG compared to CG, no statistically significant difference was found in the intergroup analyses (p > .05). Conclusions Calisthenic exercise could be used to reduce smartphone addiction. In addition, calisthenic exercises could be beneficial to improving sleep quality and reducing headaches. We believe that these results are important for health professionals interested in the subject and those working in different fields, such as educators.