Ms. Bibi of From Misery to Happiness has awarded me with the Sunshine Award!
Thank you, thank you!
I always enjoy my visits to Bibi's blog because she cracks me up! She also has some great recipes and keeps a list of good deals that will help you KEEP the money you earn. Love that!
Please stop by there and tell her who sent you.
----
And speaking of sunshine...
Now, for those of you who don't know, I am a redhead.
ummm.. yeah, just like that!
;)
The point is that I am fair skinned. I had the misfortune (in that respect) of growing up in the 70's.
When your weren't cool if you didn't have a suntan.
The darker the better.
Even burnt to a crisp was better than pale.
So burn we did.
I still have the vivid memory of certain girls in junior high holding their arms up against mine and cracking up right in my face, like I would never be cool because I am not as tan as them.
Gotta love junior high!
Back then sunscreen was for losers...and maybe babies.
Too bad those girls look like this now!
I'm kidding. ;)
But the reality is, sun exposure is not good for you. Skin Cancer is real. And deadly.
And unfortunately, common. According to SkinCancer.org, skin cancer is the most common cancer in the United States. It is so important that we protect our skin from the sun.
But apparently not everyone agrees with me.
Some say "Let the Sunshine In"! And "When there is not enough sun, I will make my own."
What are your thoughts on tanning beds? Pretty much everybody my age has used one. Back in the day, we were told to go tanning as a treatment for acne and Seasonal Affective Disorder (which was called the "winter blues", I believe.)
But lots of us gave up on tanning when we found out that it is just as dangerous as lying in the sun. In 2009 The Toronto Star reported that tanning beds are rated as a top-tier cancer risk.
So why would people risk it?
Recent evidence suggests that tanning parlors may be the modern day equivalent of the local pub.
Can you become addicted to tanning beds?
Researchers at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center and the State University of New York, Albany think so! Granted, the study they did was a small one, but this is not the first study which suggests that tanning is addictive.
So what say you, dear friends? Are tanning beds the modern cigarette?
Or are they yesterday's news?
Literally.
13 comments:
I saw that study yesterday! I have only used a tanning bed on a very limited basis, but I LOVED it...so I think I was getting addicted to it.
I am glad I don't use it now...I think that study is very true! It made me feel so much better! LOL.
I am one of those who pick up sun just walking to the car, so I don't burn often. However, I still slather on sunscreen and sit under an umbrella on the beach. Skin cancer is not worth dark skin.
I did succumb to peer pressure in the weeks leading up to my wedding by laying in the tanning bed. YES. It was addictive. The smells, the feeling, the everything.
Yet, my white face (because I couldn't stand the thought of aging on my face) and my too-brown body made for horrible pictures!
Moral of the story: Sunless tanner is awesome!
I definitely think it is addictive. I used a tanning bed a little in high school and college, but don't anymore. I'm am lucky enough to have a little darker complexion naturally, so I figured it isn't worth the risk.
congrats on the award!
i, too am fair-skinned. i got the irish curse. i do lay out in the summer, but always wear sunblock. i would NEVER go tanning- people who do that are absolutely nuts.
I seriously thought you already had gotten the Sunshine Award. Or I would have sent it too you. Well, deserved.
I spray down with 15 almost everyday now. Icks....after the damage was done back in the day with baby oil and iodine...
I love the sun, I love how it makes me feel and it does cure the summer blues for me. However, now that I am older and wiser (I too did the baby oil and iodine thing in high school) I am strating to be more aware of my skin's needs. I don't wear sunblock like I should, BUT I don't lay out and MAKE my kids lather up before we go out. I also buy makeup with stuff in it to help protect! By the way, my daughter is a red head...she (beign 10) says you all are "rare" and WE are lucky to have you rare ones in our lives! She is right! lol!
You definitely can become addicted to the tanning bed. I am so thankful I am not, althought I have been in one numorous times. My friend is addicted. She goes every single day. Why? She's it is because if she is pale, she looks horrible. I have talked to her about skin cancer before, but she isn't concern. Sad.
I've seen the results of studies on tanning beds, but I simply don't believe them. Why? Because I know tons of people who tan and have tanned for years and I don't know any who have gotten skin cancer. You would think that I would know at least one person who had been effected by skin cancer from a tanning bed if the studies were true. So - I think that someone in some government agency somewhere is doing studies, and falsifying results to make tanning beds look bad - so they can eventually tax them. Right now, tanning is a service - not taxable. But if it is proven to be a health risk it will be taxed. So, I think the studies are just another way the government is trying to get into our pockets.
And it doesn't really matter if I'm wrong because I don't tan anyway.
I'm pale and I hate it! But I burn horribly, so I don't sun tan. I can't do tanning beds because I'm claustrophobic, and would probably die inside that small space!
I have to say.. yes I think tanning beds can be addictive. But I'm not going to lie, sometimes I go in the winter. But ONLY because I'm almost 25, and I still battle with acne.{shhh!!!!} When i had insurance, I would go to the derm and they would do the same exact thing. But now that I don't.. I occasionally go. But NOT for color. Never more than twice a week, and never for longer than 15 min.
Every single day on the year though, I've got at least SPF15 on my face.. in the summer, any skin that shows gets it!
Oh man, from the ages of 16-20, I lived in a tanning bed. I remember my junior and senior years of high school I went almost every single day. I am so paying for it now! Honestly, I hate being pasty, but I have so many freckles and discolorations that were caused by the years of tanning, not to mention my premature wrinkling. I'm a big fan now of the spray tan. Because lets face it, tan fat looks a lot better than white fat!
First of all I love this post. I do think tanning is addictive. I spent my teenage years and early 20's trying to be tan, even if I thought I had color I still was not tan. After having a red-headed daughter I decided to give it up. It is not worth the risk. Everytime I would go "tan" I felt so convicted, as if I was just asking to get skin cancer. Also, I do not want my daughter with red hair and fair skin to think she has to be tan to be beautiful!
I usually buy one tanning package (about 10-15 tans) once a year, usually at about this time (April). Otherwise, I hate being outside because I'm a pansy! :o) So 10 to 15 days out of the entire year, for about 15 minutes, I get some fake sun. Oh, and this isn't consistent because the years I was pregnant (04, 06, 08) I didn't go. I have mixed feelings about it, but in the end, I like to go and hope that because I don't do it much, it will be ok.
But I love Patty's response! :o)
Post a Comment