Tanning is Contravolitional

Tanning is Contravolitional

by Donald L. Smith

Keep the words contravolitional and involuntary in mind the next time you read an article by a member of the dermatology community stating that a tan indicates damage to the skin. Never heard of the word contravolitional? It is defined as something that is done in opposition to the will. Will is defined as the power of the mind to choose and control its own actions. Therefore, a volitional activity would be one that can be controlled by our thoughts and willpower and an involuntary activity is one performed independently and without thinking.

Common Sense

In order to fully understand what we are talking about, let's take a look at the human body. Certain bodily processes are contravolitional and they are performed without the necessity of conscious thought. Good examples are breathing, the digestion of food, the beating of our heart, temperature control and injury repair.

Two other functions that are contravolitional that are relevant to this article are erythema (sunburn) and melanogenesis (tanning). All of these natural processes rely upon the involuntary ability of the body to restore homeostasis. For those of you a few years past your high-school biology class, homeostasis is a tendency toward stability in the normal body states. Homeostasis is activated by the body's automatic feedback mechanism to both internal and external stimuli.

One example of this process--when the body's temperature rises above 98.6 degrees F, the homeostatic reaction is to cause us to perspire, breathe more deeply and make our heart beat faster to increase our blood circulation rate.

The same is true when the body determines that our skin has been overexposed (defined as a dose of UVR large enough to cause a sunburn) to UVR--the contravolitional reaction is sunburn. This normal process causes swelling, reddening of the skin and other reactions that all serve to protect our DNA from being damaged. The body then repairs the damage done to the skin by the sunburn.

Likewise, when the body is exposed (defined as a dose of UVR below the level that will cause a sunburn) to UVR, the contravolitional reaction is the process of melanogenesis--to develop facultative pigmentation (a tan) and the thickening of the top layer of skin.

Imagine for a moment that you are comfortably laying in a tanning bed. Do you have to take any voluntary action to start the process of tanning? The answer, of course, is no. The process of UVR-induced melanogenesis is contravolitional. In fact, you couldn't stop the process even if you tried.

That is why it is absolutely ludicrous for the dermatology community to suggest that the contravolitional process of tanning is harmful. It is nothing more than the normal homeostatic response to UVR by our body.

What is important is the level of the homeostatic response to UVR and if overexposed, the result. However, sensible, moderate and responsible exposure to UVR results in the development of facultative photo- protection pigmentation which serves to increase our tolerance to UVR. Even prominent dermatologists have stated that both our natural skin color and an acquired tan provide UVR protection; that tanned skin is three to five times more resistant to UVR injury to the skin; and, the darkening of the skin during the tanning process, the enhanced DNA repair capacity that results and possibly, other unknown factors protect the skin from both acute (sunburn) and chronic (including the development of skin cancer) UV damage.

Mother Nature Knows Best

When one considers all these facts, most people will agree that maintaining a year-round tan makes good sense. Furthermore, they will realize that the sun-avoidance message may be potentially damaging to all individuals except for skin type I individuals who are genetically unable to tan. Likewise, the advice to apply an SPF 30 sunscreen every day of the year, no matter the season or location, can be seen to benefit only the manufacturers of products that contain sunscreen. If Mother Nature wanted us to use a sunscreen, she wouldn't have provided us with the wonderful contravolitional ability to tan.