Dangers of the tanning salon

Summer has come to an end and so has our days of basking in the sun. With our hectic schedules we can no longer find time to catch some rays or even worry about our appearance. Due to this lack of time some girls find it imperative to keep their tan with the help of a tanning bed. However what some people do not understand is the severity of the dangers these beds impose, or they shut a blind eye in order to keep up this risky habit. Just like it is important to wear sunscreen it is important to protect our skin from the dangers of these ultraviolet rays. The American Academy of Dermatology states that “Thirty-five percent of American adults, 59 percent of college students, and 17 percent of teens have reported using a tanning bed in their lifetime.” That is an extremely large percentage making us wonder just how many people at Penn State use a tanning bed daily. The equipment used in a tanning bed are what pose the most dangers. The ultraviolet rays can be potentially life threatening. The Academy then later states that “Using indoor tanning beds before age 35 can increase your risk of melanoma, the deadliest form of skin cancer, by 59 percent; the risk increases with each use. And that women younger than 30 are six times more likely to develop melanoma if they tan indoors.”  Melanoma is a skin disease that usually first results in moles but has severe consequences. The UV rays damaging your skin is what leads to this disease and has other effects such as: eye damage, burns, loss of consciousness, early skin aging among others. I used to go tanning but as I have done more research I now realize the harm I am putting my body through. It is crazy to think that light bulbs can cause so much damage to the body and the mind. Which just further proves how surprising science is all around us. When you feel the urge to hit the tanning bed think about the life changing altercations it may pose. There are other methods to suppress your needs that are both healthy and effective, such as self tanner and spray tans. Tanning beds are threatening the lives of those around us and we need to take a stand before it effects one more person especially at Happy Valley.

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4 thoughts on “Dangers of the tanning salon

  1. Kameron Villavicencio

    I feel a huge sense of guilt when I watch my roommates go to tanning salons. I know that I shouldn’t and it’s their bodies, but I think of how skin cancer is becoming more common in people much earlier than it ever did before. I suppose this cannot fully be considered causation but it is definitely a startling correlation.

  2. oke5010

    Skin cancer is a very terrible thing and I never realized how bad or easy is was to get until I started using tanning beds. My junior year of high school I used tanning beds around prom season just like a lot of girls do. I started going a lot because I wanted to have a good color for pictures and to go with my dress. It wasn’t until after my junior year of prom that one of my family members got skin cancer and my mom immediately told me never to use a tanning bed again. To this day I am a junior in college now my mom makes sure that my sisters and I are not using tanning beds and that when we’re in the sun we always wear sunscreen.

  3. Lauren Elizabeth Jardine

    Really good post. I once was talking to my cousin about the annoyance of tan lines and the difficulty of not getting any when I tan by my pool. When she suggested “Just go naked” I brought up the fact that I would be at home with my family and neighbors and there was no way I could do that. She replied with “No silly I mean next time you’re at the salon.” I was really surprised and confused as she explained that she goes pretty often and that I should join her. I never understood the appeal and it always seemed sketchy to me and these consequences prove my feelings further

  4. Randall Stansbury

    I have never understood my friends that choose to go to the tanning salon as the weather gets warmer. Especially in high school during prom season it was typical to see many girls walking around proudly showing off their fake tans and comparing looks and places. I just don’t understand how you can go to a tanning salon when there is so much information out there about it’s connection to skin cancer. To me, it is similar to the way that some people still continue to smoke cigarettes even though it is so harmful to their bodies. Why would you do something that is so hurtful to your body even when you know the consequences.

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