Tanning Beds Essay Example for Free

Tanning Beds Essay Have you ever been tanning? I have been tanning multiple times and I love it. Tanning is defined as â€Å"A structure lined with sunlamps in which one stands or reclines in order to acquire a suntan†. Tanning’s purpose as it is defined is to get a tan. Tanning beds are used by people to tan all year around. Men and women are no longer forced to make time to tan outside or to schedule a time around the weather because of tanning beds. Another reason tanning beds are convenient is it only takes a short amount of time to show results when regularly you would have to lay outside for hours before you see results. In this paper, I am going to evaluate tanning where it came from, who invented it, where, and why. Last but not least were going to be looking at the positive and the negative aspects of tanning too. The history of tanning beds begins with Friedrich Wolff. Friedrich Wolff was a German scientist who invented the tanning bed in 1978. Friedrich invented this on accident. He did this when he was doing a study on the positive side effects of ultraviolet light on athletes. Then he noticed a side effect about the skin when under ultraviolet light, he saw that the skin became a nice tan color. Later on he eventually brought the tanning industry to America. Years later to present day tanning has become a huge business, and a common hobby throughout not only the United States but the world. On the contrary, there are plenty of health risks when operating a tanning bed. Some people consider that tanning beds are detrimental to the health of all users. One of the major health risks that someone can get from tanning is skin cancer. The AAD state that â€Å"the number of skin cancers have  been raising over the years due to increasing exposure to UV radiation from the sun, tanning beds, and sun lamps†. At hand are two kinds of skin cancer: melanoma and non-melanoma. Melanoma is the most serious and life threatening form of skin cancer. Then non-melanoma is most common skin cancers, which are not as severe as melanoma. Astoundingly, more than one million cases of non-melanoma skin cancers are found each year and are considered to be sun related. This evidence from studies are shocking because so many people tan but they overlook the risks. In addition, there are other long term effects of ultraviolet radiation which include sunburn, eye damage, premature aging of the skin, and phototoxic reactions. I have tanned off and on for the last five years, and the only noticeable effect I have received from tanning is sunburns and occasionally skin reactions from certain tanning lotions. In spite of that, with tanning there are positive effects as well. One is nutritional health; The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates sixty percent of the United States population is not receiving enough Vitamin D. This shows that Vitamin D is essential to the body’s health. Vitamin D has positive effects on keeping your blood level sustained and promotes healthy bones. Furthermore, another positive effect from tanning is the emotional and physical attributes it gives. Emotionally tanning can give you the sense of looking good, but also emotionally it can boost and give you positive feelings. Then that will make you a happier person. Finally, tanning can physically give you better looking skin and also a nice brown skin. .To begin with, every tanning salon has a different aspect that draws attention to the customer. My place of choice is Tan Connection, which is located off of tenth and girls school road. The address is 7329 W. 10th St. Indianapolis, IN, 46214-2515 and the phone number is (317) 271-9828. What caught my eye about this certain salon was the employee, the set up of the salon and the cleanliness. The employees are very friendly and enthusiastic that it makes that whole visit worthwhile. Walking into the salon you see this beautiful waterfall with the perfect lighting, palm trees, and magnificent rock surrounding it all. Not only does the inside look beautiful  but the outside has a walkway and flags and employees leading you inside. The salon itself is picturesque. The way the salon looks inside and outside is my number one observation. If the salon looks like a dump then more than likely the service will too. Also, cleanliness of a salon has a big effect on how I choose where to go. Usually if the floors, windows, and bathrooms are dirty then that probably means they don’t clean the beds that often. Clean beds are something everybody wants when tanning because you don’t know if the last person that was in there had some sort of disease or illness. Tan Connection definitely has clean beds: for one, you can smell when you walk in the room, for two they have cleaning supply in the room with towels, finally they offer to even clean again right before you tan. Tan Connection would be the tanning salon I would recommend to anyone. To conclude, as you can tell by evaluating tanning beds there is controversy on whether tanning is good or bad. When Friedrich Wolff invented tanning accidently, he created a whole new world of social behavior and business. Now today’s society, it is common for people to tan several times a week. Some people know the health risk and choose not to change. On the other hand, I believe tanning is acceptable to a certain point. I think tanning is good for getting Vitamin D, and also I believe it is good emotionally and physically. Conversely, I think there is a certain point when tanning should be set to a limit. You do not want to tan too much because then it is unhealthy. It is terrible for the skin and the immune system and overall detrimental when overexposed to tanning.