To Tan? or Not To Tan? What are the real facts...

TANNING

This has been a hot topic due to the recent legislative moves against it by way of the 10% tanning tax being imposed on our faithfully bronzed citizens.  An estimated 30million people tan indoors every year.  Is it fair to subject them to higher prices?  Is it justified?  Just how bad is tanning? What are the REAL facts?

Well, I've done some digging, and have come up with some convincing evidence for AND against indoor tanning...I myself have gone through phases of the desire to be bronze, at the expense of my personal health.  Let's be real.  We ALL know that tanning can cause skin cancer.  Yet, we all still do it because we are young and want to look our best, whatever the cost may be.  But, as I age, I am beginning to notice teeny, tiny ::GASP:: wrinkles!  In areas of my body and face, that have tended to be darkest.  Is year round bronze worth the price we pay later on?

At the same time, I have lived primarily in a colder climate, where winters are long and dark.  Lack of sunlight can cause depression, and lack of vitamin D can actually ALSO increase risk of certain cancers.  I know that I definitely feel happier and 'sunnier' after a tanning session.  It can be so damn dark up here in the Northeast!  It sucks when the only daylight you are exposed to is from the light between the blinds of the office windows.

What it all comes down to is MODERATION. As with anything else in life.  We need to be more realistic about how dark we can make ourselves.  Maintaining a healthy glow is fine, but when is too much, too much?  When does it become an obsession/addiction?

CONS - THE FACTS

• Indoor tanning has been linked to premature aging, squamous cell and basal cell cancers, and melanoma
• The Center for Disease Control and Prevention states that skin cancer is the MOST COMMON form of cancer in America
• EACH YEAR there are 50,000 new cases of melanoma and 10,000 skin cancer related deaths
• The National Cancer Institute found that women who use indoor tanning MORE THAN ONCE A MONTH are 55% more likely to develop malignant melanoma

So, there we have it, more than once a month, and you risk forming some of these little beauties...

 

IS IT WORTH IT? 

WHAT IF YOU CAN'T STOP?

Studies have been conducted that suggest tanning may actually even be ADDICTIVE!!! THE HORROR!!!

"...a recent study, which illustrates that indoor tanning may also be addictive, heightens our concern. The study , appearing in the Archives of Dermatology last spring, examined indoor tanners in college, who on average visited the tanning salon 23 times a year. That's almost once every two weeks. Wow.

To gauge whether or not indoor tanning was an addictive behavior for the participants, the researchers tweaked two diagnostic screening tests, one often used to assess alcohol abuse (CAGE) and the other used to assess substance abuse (DSM-IV-TR). They found that 39.3 percent of the indoor tanners met addiction criteria with the CAGE test and 30.6 percent met criteria with the DSM-IV-TR test. Of this sample group of college students, many were, by definition, addicted to tanning."
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PROS - THE FACTS

 VITAMIN D - The 'Sunshine' Vitamin

• Vitamin D has numerous known benefits, and having a deficiency of this can be very serious
• Vitamin D has been nicknamed the “sunshine vitamin” because the skin makes it from ultraviolet rays.
• The main function of vitamin D is to maintain normal blood levels of calcium and phosphorus. Vitamin D also helps in the absorption of calcium, helping to form and maintain strong bones. Without vitamin D, bones can become thin, brittle, soft, or misshapen.
• Some specific examples of benefits are: improved bone health and prevention of osteoporosis, osetomalacia, and rickets, reduced risk of heart disease, stroke, and breast, colon, and other cancers, alleviations of skin disorders, decreased risk of autoimmune disorders, and enhanced mental health and lessening symptoms of seasonal affective disorder, premenstrual syndrome, and depression
• In several studies, it was found that Vitamin D helped protect against rickets, lymphoma and cancers of the prostate and colon cancer.

SO...Tanning can actually be GOOD FOR YOU! BUT...NOT IF YOU DO IT TOO OFTEN...