(http://cancer.about.com/od/skincancermelanoma/a/tanorexia.htm
As we know, everyone loves to be tan for one reason or another. Are you a tanorexic? It used to be a girl thing, but now you even see guys wanting to get their “winter tan” on in the booths and beds, here’s why:
There was a study done at Wake Forest College in 2006 that proved tanning to be addictive. People form an addiction to the UV rays and experience what seems to be a high, like one would experience from a drug. The study consisted of students from Wake Forest following 8 people who tanned around eight to fifteen times a month, and following a second group that tanned less than twelve times a year. There were two types of beds used during this experiment, a bed with non-UV rays and a bed with UV rays. When the chronic tanners tanned in the non-UV ray beds, they experienced withdrawals, as would a drug addict being withheld from drugs. This helped prove that tanning is euphoric in the sense that the UV rays effect the production of endorphins, which are the chemicals released from the brain to produce a exhilarated feeling in ones body. It also reduces the pain we feel, like a drug would.
So why do people obsessively tan when they know all the consequences behind it? They’re addicted. The effects of tanning can be hazardous and lead to melanoma, other cancers, and in rare cases, death. When your skin gets darker it is damaging the skin cells, and it turns darker to act as a protective shield. The only safe way to still look glamorously tan is bottled products like tanning lotions or spray on tans. Sunscreen is key.
As we know, everyone loves to be tan for one reason or another. Are you a tanorexic? It used to be a girl thing, but now you even see guys wanting to get their “winter tan” on in the booths and beds, here’s why:
There was a study done at Wake Forest College in 2006 that proved tanning to be addictive. People form an addiction to the UV rays and experience what seems to be a high, like one would experience from a drug. The study consisted of students from Wake Forest following 8 people who tanned around eight to fifteen times a month, and following a second group that tanned less than twelve times a year. There were two types of beds used during this experiment, a bed with non-UV rays and a bed with UV rays. When the chronic tanners tanned in the non-UV ray beds, they experienced withdrawals, as would a drug addict being withheld from drugs. This helped prove that tanning is euphoric in the sense that the UV rays effect the production of endorphins, which are the chemicals released from the brain to produce a exhilarated feeling in ones body. It also reduces the pain we feel, like a drug would.
So why do people obsessively tan when they know all the consequences behind it? They’re addicted. The effects of tanning can be hazardous and lead to melanoma, other cancers, and in rare cases, death. When your skin gets darker it is damaging the skin cells, and it turns darker to act as a protective shield. The only safe way to still look glamorously tan is bottled products like tanning lotions or spray on tans. Sunscreen is key.
1 comment:
That is crazy that people could get addicted to UV rays from tanning. I thought it would just be more of a vanity issue more than UV rays withdrawals. That could explain why so many people are tan during the winter.
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