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The idea of a sun tan representing health or affluence is a recent trend. Before the 1950’s, people were very conscious of keeping their skin out of the sun. Indeed, someone that was heavily tanned may be thought of as some that worked outdoors in a poorly paid job and exposed to too much sun.
During the 1950’s, people became more prosperous. They had more time for leisure activities as opposed to working. These type of activities involved spending time at the beach or other outdoor activities. they also had time and money to spend on exotic vacations to warmer climates.
Pretty soon an all over tan could indicate affluence or a healthy lifestyle (which is not completely untrue). Looking tanned became desirable to the extent that people would go to the beach or spend time outdoors purely to get a sun tan.
People wanted to look suntanned all year round regardless of the time of year. Others wanted to look tanned before they went on vacation. With these attitudes prevalent, the development of the sunbed began.
And since the creation of the sunbed, it has proved to be very popular. It is even popular in places where the climate is sunny and people could get a natural tan.
But the question that most people that use sunbeds have and then choose to forget is are sunbeds healthy ?
The answer is very simple. Current research suggests that any kind of tanning, be it in the Sun or being exposed to ultra violet radiation in some other way will eventually lead to skin cancer. The level or duration of exposure to UV rays before a skin cancer develops will vary from person to person depending on their skin type and other genetic factors.
Many people that use sunbeds may be at pains to point out that the radiation that a sunbed uses is different to the radiation from the Sun. UVB radiation is responsible for burning the skin in the Sun. It has a different frequency to the radiation used in sunbeds. A sunbed uses UVA radiation, that was thought to not be as harmful to the skin. For instance, it does not cause the skin to burn. However, recent research suggests that this is not the case and any UV radiation is harmful to the skin.
The salient point to all this is that any form of tanning of the skin will lead to skin cancer at some point. Maybe you will be fortunate and never reach that point during your life but the aim of skin cancer prevention is to limit a persons exposure to the cause of skin cancer, ultra violet radiation. That is why people should always wear sunscreen when outdoors. They should try to cover their skin with clothing and wear a hat and sunglasses when out in the Sun.
Getting a weekly sunbed tan is like going out into the Sun without protection. This seems like a potentially hazardous thing to do to get an all over tan.