UV light may have a relaxing effect

Tanning of skin may offer more than just a bronzed skin. The ultraviolet (UV) radiation used in indoor tanning helps in raising the moods and making people feel relaxed.Although exposure to ultraviolet radiation has been linked to skin cancer, sunless tanning has become more and more popular in the U.S. At least 10 per cent of indoor tanners use tanning beds for more than 20 hours a year. Researchers from the Wake Forest University School of Medicine in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, found that tanning isn't just about pigment change in the skin, UV radiation has many complex effects; one of them being the effect on mood in frequent tanners. But everybody is not susceptible to this effect.People who tan four to six times before the prom or a cruise don't have the same response. Like a lot of other things, tanning is bad when done to excess.Most research on the motivations of frequent tanners has focused on their desire to improve their appearance, but researchers suspected that some people might tan because it makes them feel relaxed. To examine what lures frequent tanners to tanning beds, researchers studied 14 people all women except one man who used tanning beds 8 to 15 times a month. During tanning sessions on Mondays and Wednesdays, participants spent part of the time in a normal tanning bed and part of the time in a tanning bed that did not emit any UV radiation. The beds were equipped with special filters that made them appear indistinguishable. On Fridays, participants were offered the chance to use the tanning bed of their choice either one bed for the whole session or a combination of the two. Out of the 12 people who chose to tan on Fridays, all but one selected the UV-emitting bed for the entire session. Tanners felt more relaxed and less tense after using a UV tanning bed than they did after using a dummy tanning bed. How UV radiation relaxes people is a bit of a mystery. One possibility, according to the study, is that it may trigger skin to produce substances called endorphins that are associated with pleasure. Whether endorphins are involved remains uncertain, however, because the researchers did not measure endorphin levels before and after UV exposure.

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