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The gym is many things to me: It's where I go to relieve stress after a hectic day at the office; where I go to feel strong and powerful; where I (sometimes) go to watch The Mindy Project uninterrupted. What it is not: a place that encourages habits clearly linked to cancer. Or at least, it shouldn't be.
Though gyms are supposed to be a home for all that is healthy (weight room bacteria aside), many fitness centers around the country promote unlimited tanning as a valued service. Problem is, tanning booths are straight up carcinogens. Would gyms offer tobacco shakes or asbestos bars for breakfast? (Just imagine the Yelp reviews!) I'm here to tell you that tanning is no different. They emit UV rays 12 times stronger than the sun, and study upon study has linked tanning to cancer. Just one exposure to a tanning booth in adolescence increases the risk of developing the potentially deadly melanoma by 75 percent. There is no debate. No question about it.
Gyms are creative in how they market the service to consumers, many touting "a healthy, slimming look." It works: A 2015 study published in JAMA Dermatology showed that of those who had ever tanned indoors, about two in five said they had done so outside of a tanning salon, most often at a gym. The women who used non-salon locations tended to have had more than twice as many tanning sessions as those who only used tanning salons, the authors found. The reason? Tanning at your gym is often included and unlimited with your membership, while salons generally restrict you to twice a week and charge by the session. (Free cancer, anyone?!)
Thankfully, the number of indoor tanners has been on the decline since 2010, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). But even with the bit of hope that this downward trend offers, a tanning bed, formidable and tall, welcomes me each time I enter my gym. Maybe I wouldn't get so pissed if I weren't a dermatologist who cuts of chunks of skin-cancered flesh from otherwise healthy people every. single. day. Maybe if I weren't a derm, I wouldn't give it a second look. But I am, and I do. How could I not? Just one indoor tanning session increases your risk of developing squamous cell carcinoma by 67 percent and basal cell carcinoma by 29 percent, according to the Skin Cancer Foundation.
So why tan, especially if you're a health-conscious person who exercises and eats well? I asked one of my gym-tanning patients just that. Her response? "I go to the gym to look good." Now, I understand that not everyone exercises to reduce their risk of heart disease, and that lots of people go to sculpt a six-pack. That's fine, even healthy. But tanning is neither of those things. Not to mention—cancer aside—it won't make you look good in the long run. UV rays create free radicals, which break down skin-firming collagen, and those same rays rev up melanin production, leading to brown spots (also known as sun spots!). That means sagging, wrinkles, discoloration, all of it. Ninety percent of the signs of visible aging come from unprotected excessive tanning. Not cute.
My advice: Hit the gym for all the vain reasons in the world (hey, everyone wants to look their best), but draw the line at tanning. There are more high-quality self-tanners on the market than ever before. You'll thank me 10 years from now when your skin is as tight—and cancer-free—as your abs.