Those who tan, live longer!
Beach season is approaching, and again, raising the question of whether to tan or not to tan. Recently, many health specialists have started to warn us quite earnestly that being in the sun without protection is dangerous because its increases the risk of skin cancer.
These specialists are probably right, but a study made in Sweden shows that in general, tanning is beneficial to one’s health. Pelle Lindqvist from the Karolinska Institute and his colleagues wrote in the Journal of Internal Medicine, that those who tan even live longer on average than those who don’t. The scientists analysed the tanning habits of almost 30,000 Swedish women over 20 years. The reason why the lifespan of avid tanners tends to be longer than that of those who avoid tanning was also discovered. Namely, they have a reduced risk of dying of heart diseases and other illnesses besides skin cancer. The analysis did not reveal whether the reason why the sun prevents disease is the vitamin D that produces in the body, or some other effect of the UV rays. However, it did turn out that, among avid tanners, the lifespan of smokers was more or less the same as among non-smokers among non-tanners. Therefore, Lindqvist and his co-authors concluded that avoiding sunlight can be a greater health risk than smoking.