This article was taken from the February 2011 issue of Wired
magazine. Be the first to read Wired's articles in print before
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Finnish company Valkee Oy has developed a technology for
sufferers of the winter blues that is almost daylight in your
"[Animal] studies show that, when you expose the brain to light through the skull," says
Valkee Oy CEO Juuso Nissilä, 39, "you can increase the secretion
of several 'feelgood' neurotransmitters, including seratonin and
The €185 (£160) Bright Light Headset beams full-spectrum LED light at a thin-boned area of the skull
via the outer ear. The way it works isn't fully understood, but it
does seem to be effective. In clinical trials conducted in 2009 by
the University of Oulu in Finland, 22 of 25 patients with
depression experienced a reversal in symptoms within four weeks.
Let's hope it's bright enough to cheer up the UK's weary commuters.