Women with brown eyes are particularly at risk as women are 40% more likely to experience the condition than men.
Those with blue eyes, though, seem to be have a level of protection against what is known as Seasonally Affected Disorder (SAD).
People with SAD - a form of depression - generally start to feel down from around fall and the symptoms continue through the winter months.
SAD has also been linked to weight gain from a craving for carbs.
The study's authors write:
"Individuals with blue eyes appear to have a degree of resilience to SAD.In other words, people with blue eyes historically tended to live in the North so their genetic make-up is more resilient to the cold, dark winters.
This may be taken as suggestive that the blue eye mutation was selected as a protective factor from SAD as sub-populations of humans migrated to northern latitudes."
Professor Lance Workman, study co-author, said:
"We know that light entering the brain causes a decrease in levels of melatonin.The study's results came from a survey of 175 students in Wales and Cyprus.
As blue eyes allow more light into the brain, it may be that this leads to a greater reduction in melatonin during the day and this is why people with lighter eyes are less prone to SAD."
The researchers found that around 8% of people in their study had a chronic version of SAD, while 21% had a less serious version of it.
The study was presented at the annual conference of the British Psychological Society in Nottingham, United Kingdom (Workman et al., 2018).
PS: I have brown eyes.