Could You Be Addicted To Tanning?
The following article, written by Miranda Hitti, comes from WebMD Medical News. We spotted it in a recent newsletter published by the Arizona Wildflowers, so we thank Bev Price for bringing it to our attention and for allowing us to reprint it here.
Some people may be addicted to tanning, researchers report in the Archives of Dermatology. Those tanners might crave ultraviolet light despite knowing about its health risks, such as skin cancer.
Individuals who chronically and repetitively expose themselves to ultraviolet light to tan may have a novel type of ultraviolet light substance-related disorder. Dermatologists often talk about people who seem ‘addicted to the sun’ — people who know it's not good for them to be bronzed all the time but don't seem to be able to stop tanning.
Are those dermatologists really on to something, or is tanning addiction just medical folklore? To find out, Richard Wagner Jr., MD and his team hit a Galveston, Texas, beach. Wager works in the dermatology department of the University of Texas Medical Branch in Galveston, not far from the sand and surf.
The researchers asked 145 beach goers (aged 18 to 53) about their tanning habits. Questions were adapted from surveys that are used to screen for alcohol abuse and other addictions.
For instance, questions included:
- Do you try to cut down on the time you spend in the sun but find yourself still suntanning?
- Do you ever get annoyed when people tell you not to tan?
- Do you ever feel guilty that you are in the sun too much?
- Do you think you need to spend more and more time in the sun to maintain your perfect tan?
The survey also probed beliefs about the risks of tanning.
More than one in four people who took the survey (26%) showed signs of tanning addiction, according to one standard. By another measure, more than half of all participants (53%) qualified as being addicted to ultraviolet light and related suntanning. That might not be true of the general public, noted Wagner and colleagues. It's possible that a lot of avid tanners were at that particular beach when the survey was done.
Tanning, dermatologists have found, makes the skin give off endorphins. These opioid compounds make a person feel good. They are the reason endurance runners report ‘runner's high.’ Could there really be such a thing as tanner's high? The idea came from skin cancer patients who couldn't stop tanning. Every dermatologist will tell you there are some patients we are concerned about. We know UV light can lead to cancer, yet we all see patients with skin cancer who are always tan. We tell them not to tan on purpose, and some say, ‘But doc, I like it too much. It makes me feel relaxed. I know I am getting skin cancer, but I can't stop.’
How can you tell if you're a tanning addict? Wagner says to look at how often and when you are sunbathing or visiting a tanning salon. He says if you have an unlimited pass to a salon and are going eight or more times a month, you are probably addicted. If you are tanning yourself between the hours of 10 AM and 4 PM, you are literally baking the skin and releasing more and more endorphins, which increases your desire to go back for another tanning high.
Note: UV light isn't all bad. You need it to produce vitamin D. As with so many things, more
is not necessarily better.