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 per cent of the population having full-blown SAD.

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.