Ear's an idea: The effects of seasonal affective disorder could be combated by channeling light to the brain down the ear duct

　　As the nights get longer, those who suffer from the winter blues will be planning ways to escape to the sunshine.

　　But there may be a much simpler way of cheering yourself up... simply shining a bright light into your ear canal.

　　Up to one in four Britons suffer from seasonal affective disorder, with seven percent of the population having full-blownSAD.

　　It is caused by the brain not receiving enough daylight which is needed to trigger serotonin, a hormone that regulates mood. Symptoms range from mild lethargyto depression and insomnia, but a cure might be in sight.

　　Two clinical trials, run by Valkee - who make a device that can shine light into your ear - and the University of Oulu in Finland, have found that carefully targeted light can help prevent the condition.

　　Juuso Nissil , Valkee's co-founder and chief scientist said: 'We presented earlier that the human brain is sensitive to light.

　　'These two clinical trials demonstrate that channeling bright light via ear canal into brain's photosensitiveareas effectively prevents and treats seasonal affective disorder.'

　　The University of Oulu reported that in their first study, 92 percent of the patients with seasonal affective disorder achieved full remissionafter a month of daily eight-to-12 minute doses of light from the Valkee.

　　Timo Takala, chief physician at the Oulu Deaconess Institute said: 'These two trials show that bright light channeled into the brain via ear canal is an important future method to treat seasonal affective disorder.'

　　Valkee launched its bright-light headset in August 2010. It is classed as a medical device under EU regulations.

　　The device channels bright light direct to the brain via the ear canal to prevent and cure depression, mood swings and even circadian-rhythmdisorders such as jetlag.

　　It costs ￡185 and looks like an iPod - only the earphones emit light rather than sound.

　　隨著黑夜變長，那些患冬日抑郁的人要開始考慮想辦法逃往陽光地帶了。

　　不過也許有一種簡單得多的方式能讓你的心情好起來——只需將一束亮光射進你的耳道就行了。

　　多達四分之一的英國人會患上季節性情緒失調，7%的英國人季節性情緒失調很嚴重。

　　這種失調的病因在于大腦沒有接收到足夠的日光來產生所需的血清素，這種荷爾蒙可以調節心情。癥狀較輕的表現為輕微的嗜睡，嚴重的則表現為抑郁和失眠，不過我們可能就要看到治療之道了。

　　Valkee公司和芬蘭奧盧大學聯合開展的兩個臨床試驗發現，目標精確的亮光有助于預防這一病癥。Valkee公司生產一種可以將光線射入人耳內的儀器。

　　Valkee公司的共同創立者和首席科學家朱索 尼西拉說：“我們早些時候已經向人們展示，人的大腦對光線很敏感。”

　　“這兩個臨床試驗證明，將亮光通過耳道照進人腦的感光區域可以有效地預防和治療季節性情緒失調。”

　　奧盧大學在他們的第一項研究的報告中稱，92%的季節性情緒失調患者在接受Valkee公司一個月的光線治療（每日8到12分鐘）后已經完全康復。

　　奧盧迪肯尼斯研究所的主任醫師蒂莫 塔卡拉說：“這兩個試驗表明，通過耳道照進大腦的亮光是未來治療季節性情緒失調的一個重要方法。”

　　Valkee公司于2010年8月推出亮光耳機。根據歐盟規定它被歸入醫療器械類。

　　這一儀器將亮光通過耳道直射入大腦，從而預防和治療抑郁、情緒波動以及飛機時差反應等晝夜節律失調的癥狀。

　　這種亮光耳機售價185英鎊，外形和iPod相似，只不過耳機所發出的是光而不是聲音。