Women who sunbathe live longer: study

You will find that virtually every habit of rich people is positively correlated with living longer. (In related news, collisions involving a Prius are disproportionately likely to kill Democrats, and people who speak Japanese are murdered by yakuza more than a hundred times more often than people who do not.)

Women who sunbathe in a very northern country with little sunlight live longer.

I also wonder when I read these popularizations of research how rigorous the controls were. Women who sunbathe seem likely to be a) more fit than the general population, and b) much more body conscious, either of which could lead to the counter-intuitive finding.

Still, I like getting sunlight as much as possible (living in SF this is sort of hit-or-miss).

My money's on correlation, not causation. Or would be, if this didn't refer to places with little sun.

They go from "sunbath" in the first paragraph to "extended periods in the sun" in the second.

I'm not exactly sure if that mean that the test group itself was "sunbathing" or were "extended periods in the sun" - but if we assume the latter, then sure: People that go outside to jog or do any other physical activity do live longer than people working inside an office.

If they're specific about "sunbathing" I'd like some more information. If "sunbathing" does not include tanning beds then the results do not amuse me either. Swedish people cannot tan during autumn, winter or spring without going on a vacation (either to Swedish mountains or somewhere south). People that can afford a vacation are in general wealthy, and that wealthy people live longer than the average human is something we already know.

1 hour of sunbathing in Sweden = running quickly to car in Miami

Women who sunbathe more have a lifestyle (money, time, desire to take care of self) that involves being healthier and having better access to medical care.

I wonder why it's only women that were studied...