Why Tanning Beds
Well, as you are all ready aware, tanning beds are used to increase the speed with which you can get a tan. And these days, tanning beds are a popular not only for when the weather is bad or it is winter time, but also for people whose work schedules mean they cannot get outdoors much. Or, even if you can get outdoors, you may not want to be lying in the sun all day long and just want to speed the whole process up by using a tanning bed. And, this in my opinion is where the arguments start, because of the fact that you can speed up the whole process so intensely, that instead of lying in the sun all day you can get a tan in 10 minutes, so that can’t be healthy, can it? Well before we decide whether it’s healthy or not, lets first look at tanning beds themselves and their usage.
Tanning Bed Use
Tanning beds are used to mimic the effects of the sum by using a mix of ultra violet rays, and it is through this stimulation of the melatonin in the skin that you get a tan. But tanning beds can also be used for somewhat different reasons. Those in favour of tanning beds claim that tanning beds can have health benefits, such as aiding the body in producing vitamin D or that tanning may temporarily help some forms of acne by drying out the skin. It is also argued, that come winter time, using a tanning bed can assist in the treatment of SAD (Seasonal Affective Disorder), but like most things in life, this claim is up for debate too. So we know it can be used for health benefits as well as giving a tan but what are the risks?
Risks Of Using A Tanning Bed
Now as you are probably aware, over exposure to the suns rays can be damaging, and in all fairness if you overexpose your self on a tanning bed, then that is going to bring risks too. You see over exposure to ultraviolet (UV) radiation , whether it is from the sun or a tanning bed, does increase your risks of skin cancer and premature aging. But even though studies have shown that people who used tanning beds before the age of 35, have a melanoma risk eight-fold higher than people who have never used them, what also has to be taken into consideration is that natural sunbathing is also risky and potentially deadly for many individuals because of the ultraviolet rays of the sun.
Conclusion
The conclusion to all of this, and it is just my personal opinion, is that yes there are risks to using a tanning bed. However, there are risks to going outside in the sun too. Personally I think the biggest risks are when people take silly choices by lying in the sun for hours on end every single day, or using a tanning bed for excessive times every single day. Like most things in life if you use some common sense and expose your skin sparingly, then you should not be putting yourself too much at risk