By Kim Jones

ARE you itching to get your next ‘fix’? Does the thought of never being able to ‘use’ again send you into a cold sweat? We’re not talking about the murky depths of drug addiction here – but the compulsion to top up your tan on a sunbed.

Research shows many women feel more confident, attractive – and even slimmer – when they’re bronzed. But new research shows that some of us may not just have a psychological addiction to tanning, but a physical one too.

Scientists from Germany and the US have just published a study in the British Journal of Dermatology, which showed that almost 20% of indoor tanning users have addictive symptoms, such as urges, cravings or diminished control.

And earlier research from the Southwestern Medical Centre at the University of Texas, which examined the brains of tanners who took regular sunbed sessions, found that when UV light from the machines hit their bodies, the parts of their brain associated with reward and addiction lit up. When the researchers secretly blocked the UV light, the same areas were less active.

This neurological activity – similar to that found in people addicted to alcohol or drugs – may go some way to explaining why so many of us use sunbeds on a regular basis, despite the health risks associated with them.

“There is a large body of evidence to suggest that using sunbeds increases your risk of skin cancer,” says Dr Anton Alexandroff, a Consultant Dermatologist at BMI The Manor Hospital, Bedfordshire (bmihealthcare.co.uk).

According to research which collected evidence from 27 studies, sunbed users have a 20% increased risk of melanoma – one of the most aggressive forms of skin cancer.