Okay, we can understand why a lot of people want to get themselves tanned. A pasty skin complexion does not really come off as attractive in our society, does it? The vogue thing today is bronzed skin.
Let’s face it: Getting a little color on your skin is great. It makes you look fit, healthy, and vibrant.
A person sporting a good tan looks, well, sporty! It shows that the person actually gets out there, instead of just sitting at home bumming around and accomplishing nothing. And isn’t this is the image we all want to pull off? These days, it’s all about getting fit, getting active, and getting out there. This is probably why the sun-tanned look is so in fashion.
Unfortunately, though, many people end up over-tanning. In trying to keep up with the latest trend, they actually forget that spending too much time in the sun is not all that healthy either.
It is frightening sometimes what some girls go through just to get a tan. When they are not satisfied with their color, some girls just skip natural sun-tanning altogether and head straight for the tanning salons. There, they spend too much time baking their skin in UV tanning beds. This is actually a recipe for skin cancer!
It gets worse. These days, there is such a thing as sunbathing addiction! This is characterized by a psychological condition called tanorexia, wherein the person still finds him/herself horrendously pale, when he/she already has a baked complexion.
In addition, recent studies have actually come up with evidence that sun-bathing can actually be addictive. When a person sunbathes, the body releases an opioid, which is a sort of endorphin. Release of this substance gives a pleasurable sensation, and medical experts have found out that this is what keeps tanning addicts hooked.
But whether a person is psychologically or chemically addicted to tanning does not really matter here. The main concern is that they are indeed obsessed with baking their skin. These people are addicted to tanning beds. And, as we all know, tanning beds are just lined with UV emitting light bulbs. Prolonged exposure to UV light does not give you a healthy looking sun tan – instead, it actually kills skin cells, causing the premature skin aging. Ultimately, it makes the person prone to cancer.