The aspects of life in which we humans are prone to lose control of our actions and to perceive ourselves deceptively are as varied as our different cultures are complex. Anorexia, bulimia or even orthorexia are examples of this, but these episodes are not limited to areas related to food. Today there is also tanorexia , a psychological condition in which the person looks excessively pale and spends a lot of effort trying to get a tan, overlooking or underestimating the costs that this may have.

As in the case of orthorexia, tanorexia is not a theoretical construct that enjoys wide recognition in the scientific community , partly because of its novelty and the lack of studies focused on this phenomenon. However, it can be understood as a type of culturally mediated addiction in which the person experiences a loss of control in the time spent sunbathing or using alternative methods of tanning.

The Cultural Roots of Tanning Addiction

Despite the fact that some studies suggest that behind tanorexia there are abnormal biochemical patterns that occur in the nervous and endocrine systems of those who experience this addiction, we must talk about the cultural elements that make its existence possible. Tanorexia could hardly exist in a historical context in which most of the population was dedicated to agriculture in order to barely survive and the canons of beauty tended towards pallor, but today the situation is very different.

Thus, the causes of the existence of tanorexia are partly based on a change in these canons of beauty . In today’s Western countries, a good tan denotes youth and wealth, something that is desirable and worthwhile to be externalized.

The reasons could have something to do with the fact that today’s poor are often employed for many hours in large industrial premises, far from the sunlight, as the fields have been replaced by factories. Therefore, the white population that shows a uniform tan is the one that has time to go out to leisure places during the day, goes to the beach , swims or is fond of hiking and travelling.

In addition, in certain areas of the body it is more difficult to detect wrinkles and skin imperfections when the complexion has acquired a darker tone, which would make a tan a good ally to hide the signs of aging.

The risks

The dangers of tanorexia are obvious. Excessive exposure to sunlight entails serious risks for the health of both our skin and, by extension, the rest of our body tissues . Ultraviolet radiation can produce cancer in some cases, but in almost all cases it is equivalent to a worsening of the quality of the skin over time.

Furthermore, as in any other addiction, tanorexia could be fed back from cyclical habits that are not very adaptive and generate stress and problems with social roots. In this way, a person could learn to try to reduce the high levels of anxiety produced by this problem by exposing him or herself to more ultraviolet radiation, until reaching a point where this habit totally escapes the person’s voluntary attempts to control the situation.

Symptoms of tanorexia

Some of the symptoms associated with tanning addiction are

1. Continuous state of alert related to the degree of tanning that is preserved.

2.Anxiety related to the way one perceives one’s degree of tanning.

3. Constant comparison between one’s own degree of tanning and that of other people, whatever the latter may be.

4.The person tends to perceive their skin as being much lighter than it is.