Text Message Storage

[lightman02]

Forgive me if this has been asked already but where are text messages stored on the phone?? I assume they are in some file somewhere. I ask because I have been having problems with my phone getting slow and it gets better when I remove all the messages but gets slugish kinda quick after receiving more. I think the file where it stores them is getting corrupt. Does any one know if I can delete the file and it will create a new one?? And if so what file is it??

Thanks