Things You Didn’t Know You Were Addicted To

Everyone knows about addictions to alcohol and drugs, but did you know that you can get addicted to things in your everyday life?

Tanning

It’s widely known that tanning isn’t healthy, yet nearly 30 million people use indoor tanning each year. Why? Ultra violet light creates beta-endorphin, a hormone that makes the body feel satisfied or happy. In one study, frequent tanners were given a drug that would suppress the body's ability to create the beta-endorphin hormone. The tanners exhibited classic withdrawal symptoms such as anxiety, headaches, and insomnia.

Caffeine

Everyone knows at least one person who cannot start their day without their coffee, Mountain Dew, or Diet Coke. While not as harmful as other drugs, caffeine is an extremely addictive substance. Those who partake in caffeine often are usually physically dependent on it. Without their daily dose of caffeine, you will usually find the caffeine addicts complaining about their caffeine headaches and desperately looking for a vending machine.

Lip Balm

Many different chapstick brands include the ingredient salicylic acid, an ingredient that exfoliates dead skin cells, but also irritates the skin and dry your lips out more. Also on the ingredients list is menthol. Menthol soothes pain on contact, one reason you keep  applying is throughout the day. But menthol also irritates the skin after long term use, causing more damage in the long run. Overall, using chapstick causes pain, which makes you apply more, which causes more pain in a vicious cycle to make you apply more chapstick.

Pop Music

Pop music is specifically engineered to be addicting. The human brain is constantly trying to pick out patterns. Pop music is purposely repetitive, the brain tries to predict what will happen next, and then you feel a sense of reward when you predict correctly. Number one hits can be predicted by hooking someone up to an MRI scanner and watching their brain waves. When they hear a catchy pop song the pleasure center in the brain lights up, even if the listener claims they did not enjoy the song.

Chewing Ice

Addiction to chewing ice comes in many forms. Sometimes it is just chewing on your ice at a restaurant after you finish eating your meal. Other times it is eating up to two gallons of ice per day. Chewing ice can be a symptom of the disorder Pica. Pica causes people to crave things that have absolutely no nutritional value. Many people chew ice because of an iron deficiency. Their body is desperately trying to get the nutrients it is missing from frozen mineral water.

Staff Reporter- Alex Realey