We've all heard the warnings: if you take your phones, iPads, phablets, Lite-Brites, and laptops into the dormoir, you will not have restless sleep. Most doctors suggest turning that shit off and throwing it out a window before laying our heads down to rest, but do we listen? Fuck no, we've got tweets to write, doc!

Well, a new study suggests (yes, another new study) that now more than ever, we are getting severely screwed by our screen time before sleep. The Washington Post reports:

During a two-week inpatient experiment involving a dozen adults, some participants were asked to read on an iPad for four hours each night before bedtime, for five consecutive nights. Others read printed books in dim light. After a week, the groups switched.

Researchers found that participants using iPads displayed reduced levels of melatonin, a hormone that typically increases in the evening and helps induce sleepiness. They took longer to fall asleep, and spent less time in restorative REM, or rapid-eye movement, sleep.

The study, which was conducted at Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston, revealed that before-bed screen-users reported to feeling sleepier than normal the next day, even if they got eight hours of sleep.

The reduction of melatonin in our bodies could have dangerous longterm effects, such as "increased risk of prostate, colorectal and breast cancers," the Post reports. Worried about these things happening to you? Turn off your phone nine hours before bed and hide it in an anaconda cage. Problem solved.

[Image via Shutterstock]