Indoor Tanning: Mood versus Cancer

Most people nowadays know of the harmful effects indoor tanning has on our body, specifically in terms of melanoma cancers which are life threatening tumors of melanocytes (cells that produce melanin and are responsible for skin color). However, despite the known impacts and possible alternatives, there are still high rates of indoor tanning. It is seen mostly among young women, and college students who tend to tan indoors for appearance reasons. An interesting article by Clunan et al., 2016 discusses how indoor tanning can be associated with seasonal sleep change and seasonal affective disorder (SAD).

Seasonal sleep change is when individuals may need more or less sleep during certain seasons, usually what occurs is that people need more sleep during the darker or colder winter months. Seasonal affective disorder is similar in that it is a seasonal depression often experienced in the fall or winter seasons. This study hypothesized that greater seasonal sleep change and SAD would be associated with increased indoor tanning in the winter, more problematic tanning, and tanning to improve mood and relaxation.

In this study, the researchers recruited 139 female students on a university campus, all who reported having tanned indoor. Participants did a variety of surveys to measure mood, relaxation, time spent tanning, and how these relate to each other to gain a better understanding of these individual factors, in hopes to gain more efficient ways to prevent indoor tanning. The end of the study indicated the hypothesis that seasonal sleep change was associated with more tanning to improve mood was supported, but not specifically during winter, nor was the hypotheses regarding SAD.

Overall, a few interesting points were that reasons participants tanned were because “it helps my mood,” or “it helps me relax.” Additionally, it was reported that among the participants, the frequency of indoor tanning sessions per month ranged from 0-75. For myself who has never indoor tanned before, these answers and the results were quite shocking for me. I’ve always taken the consequences of tanning quite seriously but did not realize how it can be so important for people as it boosts their confidence, appearance, mood, emotional well-being, and even effects sleep in the case of this study. This poses a serious ethical dilemma as indoor tanning for these reasons promote agency and autonomy for individuals, yet it could compromise their long term mental and physical health. How should we promote healthy tanning practices, without taking away aspects of peoples’ lives that are essential to who they are?

Resource: Culnan E, Kloss JD, Darlow S, Heckman CJ. Associations between seasonal sleep change and indoor tanning. Psychol Rep. 2015 Apr;116(2):523-33. doi: 10.2466/06.07.PR0.116k20w3. Epub 2015 Mar 2. PMID: 25730744; PMCID: PMC4474469.

Sophia :)