14 DAY TRIAL // Users of tanning beds might not be able to desist from using them for one simple reason: they can’t, no matter how much they’re being warned of the damage they might be doing to themselves. According to a recent study cited by The Money Times, tanning beds are just as addictive as alcohol and cigarettes, therefore tanorexia might start to be treated like a genuine addiction in order to wan people off it.
Apparently, those who use tanning beds regularly can’t stop what they’re doing because they can’t and not because they don’t want to. According to the study published in Archives of Dermatology, heavy users of these devices experience the same symptoms as addicts, therefore they might also experience withdrawal should they decide to stop getting a tan the artificial way. A solution to this would be to treat tanorexia like a genuine disease, it is being said.
“To reach their findings, the research team looked at 421 college students, 229 of whom said they used sunbeds or sun lamps, with an average of 23 visits each to tanning beds per year. Of these, 160 met criteria for indoor tanning addiction. For the study, [Catherine] Mosher and [Sharon] Danoff-Burg chose two questionnaires used to judge other forms of addiction, including substance abuse. They modified the questionnaires – combining the CAGE and DSM-IV criteria for addiction – to focus on use of indoor tanning beds and gave it to the participants,” the aforementioned publication writes.
“Despite efforts to educate the public about the health risks, recreational tanning continues to increase among young adults. In addition to appearance enhancement, motivations include relaxation, improved mood and socialization. This study provides further support for the notion that tanning may be conceptualized as an addictive behavior for a subgroup of individuals who tan indoors. Overall, findings suggest that individuals who use drugs may be more likely to develop dependence on indoor tanning because of a similar addictive process. In addition, tanning and drug user may be reinforced by peer group norms,” researchers write.
Further studies are needed to determine how this addiction to tanning beds might be treated, which is precisely what Gary Lipman, chairman of The Sunbed Association, uses as argument to speak against it. According to Lipman, not only is tanning not addictive, but the study that makes this outrageous claim is so flawed he wonders how come it was published in the first place.