Are you the kind of person who needs the television on in order to fall asleep? If so, you might want to read the following. A new survey has revealed that sleeping in a bright room or with a telly switched on can lead to depression. Yes, really.

The Irish Sun reports that a group of experts have shown that being exposed to too much light at night time can have a damaging effect on the brain – bad news for those of us who need the white noise of a TV in the background in order to nod off, huh?

And it’s not just a telly that can harm your brain. Night workers are also at risk, because sleeping during daylight hours can cause changes to your brain and leave you feeling exhausted, unmotivated and depressed.

Researchers in the United States carried out tests on hamsters where they were exposed to a dim light that mimicked a TV in a dark room every night for four weeks. Needless to say the animals lacked energy and displayed depressive symptoms.

When the hamsters were returned to a normal night time sleeping pattern (sleeping in darkness) they made a quick recovery.

These findings, which are published in the journal Molecular Psychiatry point to a link in the rising depression rates amongst humans.

“The results are consistent with what we know about depression in humans,” said Tracy Bedrosian, a neuroscientist from Ohio State University.

“The good news is that people who stay up late in front of the television and computer may be able to undo some of the harmful effects just by going back to a regular light-dark cycle and minimising their exposure to artificial light at night,” she added.

Do you sleep with the TV on? Will you be switching it off from now on?