While flipping through a magazine, all you see is picture after picture of bronzed models with that perfect summer glow. Beauty ideology is constantly changing and recently the bar has been raised higher than its already impossible-to-reach standards, encouraging people everywhere to strive for tanned skin.

Some informed people try to avoid tanning in the sun altogether.

“I use a lot of sunscreen so I don’t get wrinkly when I’m older or get skin cancer,” junior Emily Oliver said.

However, many people don’t spend much time outdoors or don’t have the patience for gradual tanners, causing them to turn to indoor tanning beds for a quick solution. Tanning bed companies make the argument that there is no reason to lay outside all day when a session in a tanning bed is identical to eight hours outdoors.

Although many may not realize it, the media is continually encouraging tanning through advertisments and television shows. For example, the reality television show Jersey Shore shows tanning to the extreme, suggesting to viewers that it is perfectly normal to lay in a tanning bed multiple times a week. What they don’t show on television is the dangerous and deadly side effects that can be caused by it.

“I used a tanning bed once, but I don’t plan on using it again because I’ve heard about all of the health risks, and I don’t think a tan is worth the potential dangers,” sophomore Ashley Whittle said.

Tanning beds bring many risks to their users, the most well known being skin cancer. Countless studies have shown that Ultra Violet Rays, commonly known as UVA rays, are a major cause of melanoma and nonmelanoma skin cancers. When the damage becomes too high, cancer develops. This impacts teens because more and more of them are turning to tanning beds, who are more susceptible to skin cancer due to growth rates.

“I think most people realize the dangers, of tanning beds, but the ones that go all the time don’t want to admit that they go,” Bermingham said.

According to WebMD, tanning beds can also increase the chances of users developing cataracts and permanently damaging their eyes. Sunburn can result from tanning beds, depending on skin type and exposure time. The International Agency of Cancer Research has even listed tanning beds as a level one carcinogen, meaning it is in the same cancer causing category as tobacco, mustard gas and plutonium.

However, many people turn to alternative, healthier ways of faking a summer glow.

“I use this stuff called sunbrush, that are like these tanning towlettes,” junior Ashlyn Nisker said.

These dangers can be acquired in other ways than just tanning beds. It is true that over exposure to sunlight can result in the same health dangers as tanning beds. That is why it is also harmful to lay outside all day under the sun with tanning oil lathered on.

“I go to the pool all summer and sit out and tan all day,” freshmen Melanie Bennett said.

Sunscreen is essential to healthy skin, and a minimum of SPF 15 should always be used when going outside.This is because sunlight also emits UVA and UVB rays, tanning beds just have a more concentrated amount.

The risks and dangers of tanning are very serious and detrimental to human health, which is why studies encourage people to stay away from the tanning beds and tanning oil, and use one of the many healthy alternatives for a bronzed summer glow year round.