Slashdot Mirror
Endorphins Make Tanning Addictive
Rambo Tribble writes: Research published in the journal Cell describes a mechanism whereby exposure to UV light leads to endorphin production in the skin. Additionally, they show that rodents exhibit the characteristics of addiction to those substances. This adds to earlier studies which demonstrated withdrawal-like symptoms in frequent tanners One of the researchers, Dr. David Fisher, commented, "It sounds like a cruel joke to be addicted the most ubiquitous carcinogen in the world,' The researchers conclusions are subject to some skepticism, however. Addiction researcher Dr. David Belin is quoted as opining, "... their study is going to be seminal even though their conclusions are not supported by their results." The BBC offers nicely rounded coverage, as well.
Geeks can't get a tan from their mothers basement.
I can certainly believe that tanning would be addictive. I know some people who just don't seem to be able to stay off the tanning beds. At age 30 they have the skin of 60-year-olds. (Although this is in Sweden, where you only get a couple of hours of natural sunlight per day in the winter, and lack-of-sun depression is probably more common than tanning addiction by orders of magnitude.)
First, Colorado legalizes weed, resulting in a Rocky Mountain high, and now we have evidence that sunshine on my shoulders makes me happy.
This is my signature. There are many like it, but this one is mine.
Comparing it to runner`s high is what I was thinking too.
I think the criticism of the paper was a little off, or at minimal the person was creating an unnecessarily high bar. Not all addition is equal, not all withdraw symptoms are crippling, and "must be life destroying" only applies when you are talking DSM level addiction, not the physiological process.
Caffeine would be a good example of this. Physically addicting, has withdraw symptoms, but does not rise to the level of DSM addiction since people generally do not choose it over all other things. But it is still addictive.
Dr. David Fisher, commented, "It sounds like a cruel joke to be addicted the most ubiquitous carcinogen in the world.' This doesn't seem like a really intelligent thing to say. Smoking is probably just as addictive due to nicotine and clearly, it's a carcinogen as well. I guess that would be a cruel joke too?
... for kicking the habit so publicly.
"Win treats sysadmins better than users. Mac treats users better than sysadmins. Linux treats everyone like sysadmins."
Summary says
It sounds like a cruel joke to be addicted the most ubiquitous carcinogen in the world
But UV exposure let the body produce vitamin D, which enables the immune system to fight cancer more efficiently, hence things are not that simple
In fact, avoiding UV probably means swapping skin cancers with other cancers. The nice point with skin cancers is that you have a chance to spot them early, so personally, I would choose UV exposure.