Abstract
Background: Findings from previous studies indicate a growing trend in the use of smartphone apps in physical education. However, there remains a lack of research examining the impact of smartphone apps specifically “Fitify: Fitness Home Workout” on sleep quality and health-related physical fitness among college students prior to physical education classes. Objectives: The purpose of this study is to analyse the influence of the “Fitify: Fitness Home Workout” app prior to physical education classes on sleep quality and health-related physical fitness. Methods: We adopted a 11-week true experimental design as the method for this study. Fifty participants were assigned to the experimental group (EG: n = 25, age [years] = 19.8 ± 0.707; height [cm] = 163 ± 7.92; weight [kg] 54.0 ± 5.55) and the control group (CG: n = 25, age [years] = 19.4 ± 0.747; height [cm] = 164 ± 7.17; weight [kg] = 57.0 ± 5.60). Assessments of sleep quality and health-related physical fitness were conducted at the pretest and posttest. Results: Based on the results of the repeated measures ANOVA analysis, we observed that there was a significant effect of the time factor (p < 0.001) and the group factor (p = 0.024) on the interaction factor (p < 0.001) for the subjective sleep quality indicator. We also found significant effects of time (p < 0.001), group (p = 0.004), and interaction (p < 0.001) on the indicators of sleep quality and health-related physical fitness. Conclusion: We conclude and highlight that the use of "Fitify: Fitness Home Workout" prior to physical education classes can be an effective tool for improving sleep quality and health-related physical fitness among university students.