USO DE INTERNET Y SU RELACIÓN CON LA SALUD EN ESTUDIANTES UNIVERSITARIOS DE LA CIUDAD DE MANIZALES (CALDAS-COLOMBIA), 2015-2016.

Objective: internet is one of the most frequently used tools by people, it has been used so much that people are suffering problems caused by its abuse and addiction, we present a study about the use of internet by college students from five universities in Caldas, Colombia and how it is related to personal aspects that can be affected by internet use. Materials and methods: 640 students from five universities in Caldas were included, surveys were applied using several instruments to measure demographic variables, familiar functioning, sleep and feeding disorders, hyperactivity and attention deficit, anxiety and depression and observe if it exists a relation between internet addiction and these disorders. Results: 77.7% of the respondents have addiction to internet, the most frequently used tool to access internet is the cellphone, the most frequent reason for internet access were social networks. We found addiction to internet associated to the following variables, drowsiness (p=0,000), feeding disorders (p=0,012), depression (p=0,000), exam stress (p=0,000), familiar functioning (p=0,000), grade average (p=0,000), genre (0,000), sore fingers (0,000), discomfort in the elbow (0,000), hyperactivity (0,000) and inattention (0,000). Conclusion: like in other student populations, this population presents a high proportion of internet addiction, which is related to several life aspects of these individuals. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]