The Health Benefits of Tanning

by Aimee Amodio | More from this Blogger

20 Nov 2006 10:34 AM

Tanning doesn't just make you look good -- it can be good for your health, too. Indoor tanning was developed in Europe to help light deprived people get the benefits of regular sun exposure. When tanning came to the United States, it became more about beauty and less about health; that doesn't mean tanning is all bad!

Sunlight is your body's helper when it comes to producing vitamin D. Up to ninety-five percent of your body's vitamin D comes from sun exposure! Unfortunately, most people are vitamin D deficient because they don't get enough sunshine. A tanning session with can help boost your body's vitamin D levels.

Research is beginning to suggest that having enough vitamin D in your body helps reduce your risk of certain types of cancer. Breast cancer, ovarian cancer, colon cancer, and prostate cancer are more prevalent in people who do not get enough sunlight -- and don't have enough vitamin D.

A lack of vitamin D can also lead to rickets -- a bone bending disease. A century ago, vitamin D deficiency was all too common; now the disease seems to be making a comeback. Other problems caused by a vitamin D deficiency? Hypertension, diabetes, and osteoporosis are all influenced by a lack of vitamin D. Studies around the world are finding that vitamin D is good for more than just bones.

It's hard to get vitamin D from foods. The vitamin is mostly found in fortified milk and cold water fish (like mackerel and salmon). Most of the vitamin D your body needs comes from sunlight. How? A hormone in the skin soaks up UVB rays and travels to the liver and kidneys, picking up oxygen and hydrogen on the way. The traveling hormone eventually transforms into powerful vitamin D.

Between the short winter days and heavy pollution, it can be hard to get enough sunlight to make vitamin D. Approximately forty percent of people over the age of fifty are low on vitamin D -- especially if you live above the 40th parallel in the Northern Hemisphere. The shorter days mean less chance to make vitamin D. If you can't get ten to twenty minutes of sunshine on your skin every day... tanning may be a good option.

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Aimee is a fiction writer... dog lover... music lover...

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Anna Glendenning (4234) 20 Nov 2006 04:46 PM

There are specially designed Lights that people suffering from Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD) due to lack of sunlight (Pacific Northwest, USA) can use to help with the issues of light...

I used to Tan in the winter and loved it very much. My uncle died at the age of 53 from Melanoma and I had my first Basil Cell Carcinomas removed before I turned 40.

I enjoy being outside--but, always ware a hat and sunscreen now. My skin looks like mayonnaise and I don't have that healthy glow unless I use lots of makeup to cover up the damage I caused to my skin tanning for nearly 20-years. I like the spray on stuff now when I need to glow.

Right now, I personally would rather skip the Vitamin D and avoid skin cancer--but during my 20's and 30's I would have found any positive reason I possibly could to justify fried skin...I just can't do it anymore.

Michele Cheplic (37349) 20 Nov 2006 05:37 PM

Growing up in Hawaii I consider myself tanorexic, but for some reason I just can't stand to fake bake--even here in Wisconsin. Great Blog Aimee!