The effects of 5x5 exercises on a quality of life of university students, who use smartphones during long periods

Background and Study Aim. The present study investigated the effect of a 5x5 exercise program on sleep quality, fatigue, neck pain, head posture, daily walking, sitting, sleeping and smartphone usage time. Material and Methods. An exercise program was applied to 54 university students (17 males, 37 females) between October and November 2019. The five exercises lasted approximately 15- 20 minutes in each training session (diaphragmatic breathing, axial neck extension, cervical stabilization, pectoral stretch, and shoulder retractor strengthening) that was performed 5 times a day, 5 days a week for 5 weeks. The Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI), Fatigue Severity Scale (FSS), Neck Disability Index (NDI), Forward Head Posture (FHP), number of daily steps, sitting time, sleep time, and smartphone usage time were compared before and after the exercise program. The Paired Samples t-test was used to compare differences between the pre-exercise and post-exercise variables. Statistical significance level was set at 0.05. Results. Following the 5-week exercise program, sleep quality improved, and levels of neck disability and fatigue were lower and the differences were statistically significant (p0.05). Conclusion. The 5-week program of posture correction, stretching and strengthening exercises improved sleep quality, fatigue levels, and neck disability. The findings of this study can be used to improve the sleep quality, fatigue and neck problems of both students and sedentary workers.