SUNSHINE HIGH!!

Sunshine makes us happy and relaxed. Colours are brighter, the air is warmer, suntanned skin is more attractive and we feel better.

People in the sunnier climes of southern Europe and the Mediterranean tend to be more open, more expansive and more cheerful than their northern cousins. It is no accident that the best known image of despair - Munch's The Scream - was painted in Oslo.

At the scientific level, the action of light on the retina stimulates the production of brain chemicals that make us feel well.

The lack of sunlight in winter is thought to a cause a biochemical imbalance in the hypothalamus, a gland beneath the brain, which can trigger seasonal affective disorder. It is unknown in populations living within 30 degrees of the Equator - where the sun shines brightest.

- JEREMY LAURANCE, HEALTH EDITOR