You can add indoor tanning to the list of possible addictions with health implications. A study published in the April edition of the Archives of Dermatology showed that some study participants craved tanning so much that it met the criteria as an addiction. This study comes just after the new health care reform law imposed a 10% tax on tanning beds that will go into effect this July.
The study, conducted by Dr. Catherine E. Mosher, of Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York City, and Dr. Sharon Danoff-Burg, of the State University of New York at Albany, used college students as subjects. For a participant to be considered by researchers to be a problem tanner, participants would exhibit classic addictive behaviors like feeling annoyed when they were told they tanned too much, skipping work or other important activities to tan or unsuccessful attempts to cut down their tanning.
Overexposure to ultraviolet (UV) rays is one of the chief causes of skin cancer, which is the most common type of cancer. According to researchers, in the 1990’s the rate was dropping as people took their warnings to heart. Dr. Arthur Sober, Medical Director of Massachusetts's General Hospital's Dermatology department said as newer, tanner idols such as Britney Spears and Christina Aguilera emerged in the early 2000s, the tanning trend began to reverse itself. "All of a sudden, 15 years worth of work went 'whoof."
Tanning addiction, dubbed tanorexia, has been documented in other studies. In 2006 a study at Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center reported in the Journal of the American Academy of Dermatology that tanning addicts showed jitters and nausea that paralleled alcoholism. Tanners can become addicted to the release of endorphins, much like drug and junk food addicts. They also start to view themselves as a little tan, while others view them as too dark.
In the most recent study, 24% of problem tanning addicts skipped work or other scheduled activities, 40% said that they’d tried other activities but didn’t find them as rewarding and 54% said they needed to increase their tanning time to reach what they considered the perfect skin tone. 94% of them expressed a fear that their tan would fade if they cut back on tanning. Tanning addicts also showed higher rates of alcohol and marijuana usage.
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