14 DAY TRIAL // Studies long ago showed that exposure to media during the night can disturb people's sleep, especially if they go to bed with the TV or computer on. Now, Ohio State University (OSU) experts show that this habit can also lead to the development of clinical depression.
If people sleep exposed to light sources – including TV and computer screens, streetlights, or nighttime lights – for more than a month, they becomes significantly more likely to develop this mental disorder.
“Researchers have found a strong association in people between chronic inflammation and depression. That’s why it is very significant that we found this relationship between dim light at night and increased expression of [a protein called] TNF,” OSU expert Randy J. Nelson says.
The good news is that the negative side effects only appear to endure as long as the light exposure continues. As soon as people revert to a normal light-darkness cycle, the symptoms disappear, PsychCentral reports.