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Can You Get Vitamin D from a Tanning Bed?


No matter how advanced the world or the technology gets, there will always be things that it can never replicate. From intimidating small organisms to breathing life to a human, there will always be barriers to competing with mother nature.

Similarly, tanning beds, one of the useful inventions by humans is also a matter of controversy when it comes to letting it replace the mystical sun.

There exists a great misunderstanding about tanning beds ability to provide vitamin D. People still doesn’t know whether a tanning bed can product Vitamin D or not. Many people still search for Vitamin D tanning beds.

We’ll find out the answer in this article.

What actually is Vitamin D?

First things first, let’s know about what exactly is vitamin D and it’s implications.

Vitamin D is a chemical substance that occurs naturally in fruits and vegetables. Being an important substance required by your body to keep up with the energy it has to put up with, it is required in higher amounts than any other vitamin.

Where do you normally find vitamin D?

Since vitamin D occurs naturally, it can be found within a variety of sources. The two main sources are:

  1. Diet:

Like all kinds of vitamins and minerals, you can obtain quite a substantial amount of vitamin D from your diet. Some vitamin D enriched diets are:

  • cheese
  • egg yolks
  • beef liver, and
  • fish.
  1. Sunlight:

Apart from the diets and consumable items, you’ll be surprised (maybe) to know that the sunlight is the biggest source of vitamin D for a human body.

Remember the time when your parents asked you to take a morning walk? Yeah, the exposure to sunlight during the morning gives you enough Vitamin D.

But don’t think that sunlight is DIRECTLY giving Vitamin D to your body. The vitamin D is created by your own body, triggered by the UVB rays from the sunlight.

The UVB rays act as a catalyst and trigger vitamin D production. The greater the exposure, the more vitamin D is produced.

How does a tanning bed work?

I’m sure many of you know about tanning beds and their mechanisms.

Must Read Article: best healthy tanning beds by Tanning Girl

Tanning beds are great inventions that have revolutionized the tanning industry. For the people that can’t make it into the strict routine of the sun or don’t have the tolerance to face it directly, resort to tanning beds.

No wonder, it’s worth it.

A tanning bed works by producing artificial ultraviolet (UV) rays and throwing them onto the receiver’s body as UV light.

What kinds of UV rays does a tanning bed produce?

Contrary to popular belief, a tanning bed does not produce all kinds of UV rays. When coming from the sun, the UV rays are split into two: UVA and UVB rays. The latter one is the one behind Vitamin D stimulation.

In a tanning bed, however, only the UVA rays are found in excess. These UVA rays are similar to that sent out by the sun but are actually more intensified and unfiltered.

In most tanning beds, UVB rays existence is little to none. As a measurement, it is almost never more than 5% of the total exposure.

So, Do Tanning Beds provide Vitamin D?

Owing to all the information above, the answer is NO!

Tanning beds do not provide vitamin D and the primary reason for that is the unavailability of UVB rays in the tanning bulbs.

The tanning beds were originally manufactured to provide raw UV rays, containing both UVA and UVB rays. However, with time the health risks and adverse effects of these rays and exposure compelled researchers to come up with facts that dazzled the consumers.

The UVB rays, when provided to the body without proportion with UVA are quite harmful and contributing to risks of skin cancer.

Therefore, the UVB was sanctioned and the tanning beds are now only used to tan a person using the UVA rays and triggering melanin production.

Is it a hoax?

Today, it is very easy to spread misinformation than it was a decade ago. Is it really a hoax?

Well, on the defense, some people have reportedly been maintaining their regular levels of vitamin D using the same tanning beds. According to them, their vitamin D levels came back to normal as soon as they started using tanning beds.

You can see the article from Sunlight Institute here saying tanning bed can actually produce Vitamin D.  Their results come from an experiment conducted among few people who were using tanning beds and comparing the Vitamin D level with people who were not using sunbeds.

Moreover, even some scientists and researchers proved that the 5% UVB rays from the tanning beds are sufficient to trigger the production. This also means that you will have to stay in longer than required.

It is although a health risk to be staying in longer and the cons outweigh the pros. Therefore, it might not always work for you the same way it did for the others.

Health risks

Apart from all the facts that I mentioned above, the health risks also accompany a tanning bed commonly.

Unlike the sun itself, tanning beds supply you primarily with UVA rays than the UVB rays your body needs for vitamin D production. These UVA rays penetrate deep from the layer of the skin and are the main causes of skin cancer and other related diseases.

The solution for Vitamin D

I’m sure you are worried about getting tanned with the tanning bed and also regulating your vitamin D levels. There’s more than one solution.

1.      Use the sun

No matter how hard it gets, there’s always a way to use the sun. For something as big as the sun and as reachable as the sunlight, it’s never too far out of reach. Use the space in your offices and rooms that are connected with the external windows.

Place your chairs and working environment as close to the sunlight as possible (in it if possible). You don’t have to stay under it all day, a good 30-60 minutes every day will do the job.

2.      Get dietary supplements

Over the counters at pharmacies and supermarket, I’m sure you will find a lot supplements that will provide you the required vitamin D using oral consumption. I can name quite a few but I’ll leave it up to you to decide your favorite according to the availability.

Conclusion

Keeping in view all of the above knowledge in sight, tanning beds will remain a useful tool for the people handicapped with routine and responsibilities.

However, tanning beds can never provide you the vitamin D your body needs or be able to substitute for the nature of the sun. What does it mean? It simply means there is no such thing as Vitamin D tanning bed.

Some things nature will allow you to copy, others will remain its monopoly. Guess this is one of them.

Stella Cristin

I'm Stella. I have always been drawn to beauty and health products that make a change in our life. I have been working in various tanning salons in my neighborhood to help people like me to get a beautiful and healthy tan. My passion is to help people learn about safe tanning.

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