Brandon’s Guide to Tanning

Time for a little wake-up call. The sun is bad for you. The star that supports our earth is a giant ball of energy that can only be described as “hot”. This big hot ball throws all this radiation into the solar system that scientists call UV rays. UV Rays=bad, but I will get into that later.

Lets just use this diagram to illustrate what radiation does to living tissue:

Somehow through the wonder of the universe our earth developed the ability to support life, partly in part to its ozone layer. Keeping it as simple as possible, the ozone layer is (or was) a mass of O3 atoms, also known as ozone, in our upper Stratosphere. All these oxygen atoms used to break up the sun’s rays before they reached the ground.

Unfortunately, we humans love our hairspray and SUVs and long story short, the ozone layer is a mere shadow of its once mighty self. This depletion of our little forcefield happened relatively quick from an evolutionary standpoint. Our bodies are still built to handle the sun with a hefty dose of oxygen atoms in its way. So I have a great idea… Lets go tanning!So we will sit out in the sun for a few hours, soaking it all up. Now what is happening to our bodies? We are getting all sexified right? A nice healthy glow, right? NOPE!A tan is the bodies natural response to UV rays. You know how some people burn and some people tan? Well a tan is the same thing as a burn. A tan is your skin cooking in the sun, burn or tan you are still getting the same amount of UV rays.Alright, so the sun is evil… LETS GO TO THE TANNING PLACE DOWN THE STREET!!! That is a healthy tan, they use another kind of UV ray, called UVA rays. The evil rays people always talk about are the UVC rays. Well here is the scoop. The human body has a natural resistance to UVC rays and very little to UVA, that is why people who can not tan in the sun, tan in the tanning beds. So actually, you are taking in even more UV rays and here is the kicker, they are both radiation, so they are both just as bad in the long run!So we get to the next level… I know the sun is bad, so I use the rub on tan or get the spray at the tanning studio. So, let’s dose our bodies in chemicals. I know another person who did that….

In the long run, all these UV rays are going to lead to one thing, cancer. Melanoma is the widest attained version of skin cancer and ultimately its deadliest. Plus, tanning does cause winkles. So even though you think you look so “sexy” now, say hello to your future…

I personally think, even though I am an extremely pale irish boy who burns after 2 minutes in the sun, that a little sun here and there is good for you, but this tanning thing has gone overboard. Next time you plan on sitting outside in the sun on a blanket for an entire day to “build up my base tan” or “get ready for spring break”, just try to use your brain. You only have one epidermis and when that goes how sexy is that gonna be?