If you’re like me, you’ve junked your watch and bedside alarm-clock in favour of your omnipresent cellphone – it wakes me in the morning, keeps me on track through the day and warns me when I’ve read too long at night.  But scientists are concerned that proximity to a powered-on cellphone when sleeping could actually disturb the deeper stages of rest that the body cycles through overnight, and even delay the onset of sleep altogether.

In tests with 36 women and 35 men, all aged between 18 and 45, those who were blasted with similar amounts of radiation as emitted by a cellphone experienced significantly different sleep patterns than those who were not. 

“We can conclude cell phones do have effects on the body.  If you feel like you have problems sleeping, you can always consider moving the phone away from the bed” researcher Bengt Arnetz

Subjects also experienced increased numbers of headaches.

Of course, 71 people isn’t a huge amount, and while the report was funded by the Mobile Manufacturers Forum (including Sony Ericsson, Nokia and Motorola) there’s undoubtedly going to be some damage reporting over the next week or so as they attempt to assuage further health fears.