Viewpoint by Rylie Parkins/ne news editor

I have always been a firm believer in the “everything in moderation” mentality.

I have witnessed people on countless occasions overindulge themselves and have seen firsthand that too much of a good thing can turn into a dangerous obsession.

Summer vacation is right around the corner. In order to have a “beach ready body” by the beginning of summer, many people have invested in tanning salon memberships.

Beware: Tanning beds increase a person’s chances of contracting malignant melanoma, a type of cancer commonly associated with overexposure to UVA and UVB rays, but I’m not sure most people fully grasp the degree to which they are damaging their bodies.

For starters, most tanning beds emit UVA light, which was always thought to be safer than the sun’s UVA rays. However, intense research reveals a tanning bed’s UVA light is two to three times more dangerous than natural sunlight.

An article on cbsnews.com states, “Women who visit tanning salons more than once a month are 55 percent more likely to develop malignant melanoma, and the risk more than doubles for women in their 20s who frequent tanning parlors.”

According to www.health.learning info.org, “Tanning beds emit 50-100 percent the amount of UV rays than from natural sunlight.”

Researchers estimate “a 20-minute visit to the tanning booth is equivalent to spending a day at the beach,” according to www.personalmd.com.

Those who are most susceptible to developing cancer are fair-skinned, light-eyed people in Australia, New Zealand, Europe and North America.

Studies also conclude that the risk of developing cancer is about two times higher in blond-haired people than for people with black or brunette hair. The risk for redheads is four times as high.

The only benefit to tanning is cosmetic. While tanning makes a person’s body bronzed and beautiful, prolonged tanning may cause a person’s skin to sag and become wrinkly.

A person can play it safe by gradually building a tan over time and by visiting a tanning salon no more than once a week. It is all about moderation.

Chances are, if you look in the mirror and the person staring back at you is orange or abnormally brown, you are damaging your body and harming your health.

If a person feels it is absolutely necessary to have a tanned body, for her own safety, I would suggest limited trips to tanning salons or getting a tan via natural sunlight.