Sun lamps/beds
Research has shown that close exposure to the light produced by sun lamps/beds provides sufficient UVB to trigger vitamin D production and increase blood serum vitamin D levels, leading to health benefits:

• A recent study at Boston University School of Medicine (US), for instance, found that blood levels of D3 were almost twice as high in sunbed users as in non-users. Sunbed users’ bone densities at the hip were also significantly higher. [1]
• Chron’s disease can lead to D3 deficiency and therefore to osteoporosis (the body needs a good level of D3 to absorb calcium from food). A woman with Chron’s was exposed to ultraviolet B (UVB) radiation on a tanning bed wearing a one-piece bathing suit for 10 minutes three times a week. After four weeks, her blood D3 level had quadrupled from 7 to 32 nanograms a millilitre and her blood calcium level had increased by 10%. After six months treatment, her levels had returned to the normal healthy range and she had become free of muscle weakness and bone and muscle pain. [2] Incidentally, a healthy D3 blood level is around 50 nanograms a millilitre

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But, like the sun itself, sunbeds and sun lamps must be used with extreme care. And as with the sun, it appears that people often overdo it in search of a tan:

• A Cancer Research UK study found that people using sun beds or sun lamps had more than doubled their risk of developing squamous cell carcinoma. They had also increased their risk of developing basal cell carcinoma by 50%. The more years people had used sun beds or sun lamps, the greater their risk had become [3]
• Three case-controlled studies suggested that using a sun lamp might increase the risk of eye cancer between twofold and fourfold [4]

On top of all that, the ends of the fluorescent tubes used in sunbeds often emit both X-rays and high levels of electromagnetic frequency radiation.

Full spectrum lighting
Full spectrum lighting has been used for many years to provide caged tropical birds and reptiles with the UVB they need to thrive. To give benefit, the lighting source has to be within a foot or two of the animal. The bulbs have to be renewed fairly frequently because the UVB emissions they emit diminish after a few months’ use.

Many human health benefits are claimed for full spectrum light bulbs and fluorescent tubes. Some of these may be true, and full spectrum lighting in the home is certainly uplifting (‘My spirit riseth with the sun’, etc.), but, because the intensity of the light is so low in everyday operating conditions, any benefits are extremely unlikely to be due to increased vitamin D production.

Seasonal affective disorder
And by the way, full spectrum lighting is not needed to treat seasonal affective disorder, simply a light source with a brightness exceeding 10,000 lux.