A few posts back, I talked about breaking your smoking addiction with exercise. Well, it looks like there's a new addiction making the rounds that might be even harder to resist with summer coming up: tanning.

FoxNews reports that in a study conducted last year, frequent tanners (8-15 times a month) showed signs of withdrawal when given a drug that blocked a narcotic-like substance that is produced when skin tans. Symptoms included nausea and nervousness, and were not observed in infrequent tanners given the same drug.

The study also revealed that indoor tanners were often more susceptible to the tanning addiction. Researcher Mandeep Kaur, MD, says, "If you are tanning yourself eight or more times a month, between the hours of 10 a.m. and 4 p.m.---if you are baking yourself, this is going to affect you...And that goes for tanning beds, too. They say they are safe, but there is no such thing as safe tanning."

Now, aside from the fact that it's hard to believe someone is going to tan 8 to 15 times a month, is there any more reason to keep sun exposure down to a minimum? Sunlight can improve moods and benefit your health through the creation of Vitamin D, but a little goes a long way. The advice seems to be to slap on some sunscreen (like TiO2 Sunblock SPF 30) now, or your next stop may be a rehab center filled with patients that sport tans that would make Coco Chanel envious.

DG