Can you believe it’s already mid-June? Summer officially starts next weekend, but don’t let that send you running to get your “base tan” before the pool parties, barbeques, and summer get-togethers begin.
A tan is bad news, whether it is “real” from laying out at the beach or from “fake baking” in a tanning bed. The FDA recently mandated label changes on tanning beds, now requiring a black box label, their strongest warning. In 2009, the International Agency for Research on Cancer (part of the World Health Organization) raised tanning devices that emit UV rays into the highest cancer risk category “carcinogenic to humans.” The more research that is done, the more dangerous we are realizing that these tanning beds are. So why are millions of people, particularly teenagers and young adults, still using them every day?
What They Say
With all of the information out there about the dangers of tanning, something is still convincing people to sign up for tanning salon memberships. If you have ever spoken with a tanning salon employee, you’ve likely heard:
“It’s actually safer than tanning in the sun because you control your exposure.”
“The beds don’t use the dangerous type of UV rays.”
“If you get a healthy base tan now, you’ll be more protected from the sun.”
Let’s Get Real
First of all: no, no, and no.
Controlled Exposure
Even if you are only tanning for ten minutes indoors as opposed to a few hours outdoors, you are still receiving high levels of UV radiation while unprotected. The intensity of the UV lamps stays the same 24/7/365, unlike the sun, which varies depending on the time of day, season, and weather conditions. According to the Skin Cancer Foundation, an average tanning bed in England (which is comparable to tanning beds in the US) is 2.3 to six times more cancer-causing than the midday Mediterranean sun. To bring the analogy a little closer to home, the average tanning bed in the USA emits four times UVA radiation and two times the UVB radiation than the midday summer sun in Washington D.C.
Safer UV Rays
There is no such thing as an ultraviolet ray that isn’t dangerous. UV radiation is carcinogenic to humans. Although there are different types of rays that cause different types of damage, neither of them could be considered safe. UVA rays are longer and have the ability to penetrate deeper into your skin. They are often called the “aging” rays and are the reason you still need to wear sunscreen on a cloudy day, even if you don’t feel like you are burning. UVB rays are shorter and are considered the burning rays. Even if you think that the burning rays have less long-term damage, realize that a sunburn is not a temporary issue. After the burn fades from the surface of your skin, it leaves damage to deeper layers of your skin for the rest of your life.
Healthy Base Tan
A base tan can never be called “healthy,” but even if you have a tan, it only protects you equivalent to an SPF of 2-3, which is essentially nothing.
Sunburns can take 6 to 48 hours to develop and “deeper” tans can take as long as 72 hours to appear. So even if you just go tanning a few days in a row to get a “base,” you already have more damage below the surface of your skin than you can see.
Do you think that as long as you are turning brown instead of red that you are in the clear? Wrong. While a sunburn is a sign of severe UV damage, so is a tan. Even if you are just tanning for a summer glow and not to look like a cast member of Jersey Shore, you are still incurring the same damage. You know how “tanorexic” people have skin that looks thick and leathery? That’s not just cosmetic: skin cells actually thicken and produce melanin to try and stop UV rays from penetrating deep enough to damage the DNA of deeper skin cells. If the DNA is damaged, the body cannot repair itself as well and skin cancer can occur.
A Healthy Glow?
Standards of beauty are constantly changing. In medieval times, the nobles wanted the palest skin possible, as a sign that they never had to work in the sun. More recently, the beauty industry and celebrities have gone to the complete opposite side of the spectrum, with the idea that a deep tan is that standard of beauty. Particularly beginning in the 1960s, Hollywood’s look of bronzed glamour was a sign of a life of privilege and leisure that many wanted to imitate. Now, many people go on vacation with the sole intention of tanning all day long. They are encouraged by how many people give compliments on a tan or the “healthy glow” they have when they come back, but the reality is, there is no such thing as a healthy tan. Any tan is a sign that melanin is being redistributed and produced to protect your skin cells from injury.
Tanning, both in tanning beds and in the sun, is addictive. As UV radiation exposure releases endorphins, people get addicted to the happiness and calm that they feel after tanning. This, combined with the disregard for health in favor of focusing on cosmetic appeal, is what is growing and reinforcing the addiction. Remember “Tan Mom” a few years ago? People were more horrified by her cosmetic over-indulgence in tanning than by the severe damage she had done to her skin.
Fake It, Don’t Bake It
If you want an endorphin rush, don’t head to a tanning bed. Get in a workout and apply sunless tanner after your shower. You will get the endorphins, bronzed glow, and improve your health, instead of compromising it with UV radiation.
As more research is done on the dangers of tanning, celebrities and the beauty industry are starting to make the necessary shift away from deep tans and more towards natural radiance. Illuminators and brighteners are used for a “lit from within” glow, as opposed to a deep bronze tan. Turning to UV-free sunless tanners can also improve skin health by fortifying it with antioxidants and nutrients while giving you the bronze color you desire.