We all know it's bad. All of us have heard the horror stories of tanning beds multiple times in our lives. It causes skin cancer, and even the occasional report of someone "baking" their internal organs and dying because of too much tanning. If we all know how bad it is, then why do more than 28 million people visit tanning beds every year?
I am a guilty member of those 28 million people. I'm not stupid, I know tanning is bad and not worth the risk. However, I seem to still be bombarded with the superficial thoughts that I am "too pale" and I eventually give in to temptation and jump in a bed. As of today, I am about 9 months "sober," I guess you would say. But again, I am getting to the point where I feel a strong "need" to go tan. Luckily, it seems that now I have a new way to rationalize my tanning: I'm just doing it to get my vitamin D!
As this video shows, people are getting more and more concerned with their vitamin D intake. It is reported that most Americans are NOT getting the optimum amount of vitamin D. Low vitamin D levels put you at higher risks for getting cold and flu bacteria, and increases your chance of developing certain cancers. So, people (including myself) now have an excuse to tan. These beds are providing us with vitamins that we need to live a healthy life.
Some tanning beds are even starting to change their name from tanning beds or salons to "Vitamin D Beds." This may cause ever more people to start to think, "maybe this once bad habit and risky practice isn't so bad after all?" I'm not really ready to jump on the "tanning is healthy" bandwagon, but just incase I do break down and buy a tanning package in the near future to satisfy some strange addiction I seem to have, I guess I will have a way to rationalize it.
Or, maybe not.
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