According to a recent report on a study by the Black Dog Institute (published in the Journal of Affective Disorders) chocolate doesn’t help fight depression.And bad news for those who like to think of chocolate as a comfort food it may very well make you feel worse after eating it by actually prolonging your depression.

Although the momentary indulgence and the whole emotional feeling linked to eating chocolate may make you feel good the pleasure lasts only as long as the chocolate stays in your mouth.

You can read the full report Mood states effect of chocolate or see this article Is chocolate an anti-depressant for a good summarised version.

Eating fast-release carbohydrates like chocolate, sweets and cake are a typical symptom of Seasonal Affective Disorder. This is a form of subconscious self-medication - an attempt to raise low Serotonin levels in the brain - yet eating this type of food generally sets up a craving for more resulting in the typical weight gain experienced by SAD sufferers in winter.

If you want to avoid the whole cycle, it’s better to go for slow release carbohydrates and keep off the chocolate - at least as much as you can!

Now that spring is returning to the Northern hemisphere, those with Seasonal Affective Disorder will start feeling better but according to Warm weather, sunshine help dispel winter blues it’s important not to get too much too soon.

According to the article, this is because for some people too much sunshine too soon can lead to hyperactivity and hypertension.

This is often described as hypomania or spring fever - a tendency towards being bipolar with rapidly changing spring weather. And much milder symptoms of this are probably the tendency many of us get around now to visit garden centres and DIY stores in a sudden burst of enthusiasm which soon disappears once we have forked out a load of cash for the goods and need to actually do the work!

Anyway if you do have tendencies towards really going over the top in spring the article advises building up your exposure to sunnier weather gradually starting with 20 minutes a day.

The problem is getting the right balance when the weather has the tendency to change rapidly from  one day to the next : gloomy to sunny and back again. Just as well there’s light therapy to help fill the gaps on the gloomy days.

According to Money, sun make Aussies a happy bunch a stable democracy, mild winters and a high standard of living contribute to making Australians some of the happiest people on earth.

It’s not surprising that weather makes such a difference to the happiness rating index in Australia with Seasonal Affective Disorder being prevalent in so many countries further away from the equator which have much gloomier weather.

It’s a wonder the people here in Edinburgh can smile at all! (Pure jealousy about sunnier climes :))