Indoor Tanning and Prom Season

In the midst of a cold winter and prom coming up, many people are heading to the tanning salon to feel better and look better with a nice, brown tan. People use tanning beds because they like the feeling of the beds and like to look tan, and don’t understand the risks involved, or minimize them because they don’t want to give it up. Unfortunately, the reality is, to get tan, the ultraviolet rays must cause damage to your DNA.

  

Using a tanning bed, booth, or sunlamp to get tan is called "indoor tanning." Indoor tanning has been linked with skin cancers including melanoma (the deadliest type of skin cancer), squamous cell carcinoma, and cancers of the eye (ocular melanoma.) (CDC)

Indoor tanning exposes users to both UV-A and UV-B rays, which damage the skin and can lead to cancer.  Previous studies have linked indoor tanning with melanoma, the deadliest form of skin cancer. Using a tanning bed is particularly dangerous for younger users; people who begin tanning younger than age 35 have a 75% higher risk of melanoma.   

A new study extends these findings to the more common but less serious skin cancers. Specifically, people who used tanning beds were 67% more likely to develop squamous cell carcinoma and 29% more likely to develop basal cell carcinoma than people who never used them. Again, this risk was highest among people who started to tan before their 25th birthday.

Myths About Indoor Tanning

MYTH: “Tanning indoors is safer than tanning in the sun.”

FACT: Indoor tanning and sunbathing outside are both dangerous. Although beds operate on a timer, the exposure to ultraviolet (UV) rays can vary based on the age and type of light bulbs. You can still get a burn from tanning beds, and even a tan indicates damage to your skin.

MYTH: “I can use a tanning bed to get a base tan, which will protect me from getting a sunburn.”

FACT: A tan is a response to injury: skin cells respond to damage from UV rays by producing more pigment. The best way to protect your skin from the sun is by using these tips for skin cancer prevention.

MYTH: “Indoor tanning is a safe way to get vitamin D, which prevents many health problems.”

FACT: Vitamin D is important for bone health, but studies showing links between vitamin D and other health conditions are inconsistent. Although it is important to get enough vitamin D, the safest way is through diet or supplements. Tanning harms your skin, and the amount of time spent tanning to get enough vitamin D varies from person to person.

Using tanning beds also increases the risk of wrinkles and eye damage, and changes skin texture.  This damage might not be visible for many years, but that doesn’t mean it isn’t happening.  When I was in my twenties, several of us at the health center read about a way to see skin damage using a purple black light.  This “test” by no means replaces medical screening, but if you want to try it, wash your face and go into the bathroom, turn off the lights and turn the black light on next to your face.  I tried this at work and was ASTOUNDED at all the freckling and sun damage I could see that wasn’t visible from the surface.  Now, in my early 40s, it’s totally visible. 

It’s important to remember that skin cancer can happen at any age, it doesn’t just affect seniors after years of damage.  Skin cancers like melanoma are deadly, and need to be treated sooner rather than later.  If you find a spot that looks suspicious, please follow up with your physician.

Sources: CDC and WebMD

Women & Heart Disease

It’s true: Heart disease is the No. 1 killer in women. Yet, only 1 in 5 American women believe that heart disease is her greatest health threat.

But it doesn’t affect all women alike, and the warning signs for women aren’t the same in men. What’s more: These facts only begin to scratch the surface. A heart attack strikes someone about every 43 seconds. It occurs when the blood flow that brings oxygen to the heart muscle is severely reduced or cut off completely. This happens because the arteries that supply the heart with blood can slowly narrow from a buildup of fat, cholesterol and other substances (plaque).

Many women think the signs of a heart attack are unmistakable — the image of the elephant sitting on your chest comes to mind — but in fact they can be subtler and sometimes confusing.

You could feel so short of breath, as though you ran a marathon, but you haven't made a move. Some women experiencing a heart attack describe upper back pressure that feels like squeezing or a rope being tied around them, Goldberg said. Dizziness, lightheadedness or actually fainting are other symptoms to look for, as well as the feeling of swallowing something too fast or indigestion.

We’ve all seen the movie scenes where a man gasps, clutches his chest and falls to the ground. In reality, a heart attack victim could easily be a woman, and the scene may not be that dramatic.

Heart Attack Signs in Women:

·      Uncomfortable pressure, squeezing, fullness or pain in the center of your chest. It lasts more than a few minutes, or goes away and comes back.

·       Pain or discomfort in one or both arms, the back, neck, jaw or stomach.

·    Shortness of breath with or without chest discomfort.

·        Other signs such as breaking out in a cold sweat, nausea or lightheadedness.

·       As with men, women’s most common heart attack symptom is chest pain or discomfort. But women are somewhat more likely than men to experience some of the other common symptoms, particularly shortness of breath, nausea/vomiting and back or jaw pain.

If you have any of these signs, call 9-1-1 and get to a hospital right away.  Don’t just take an aspirin and decide to wait it out—call 9-1-1 as well!  More women die from a first heart attack than men.  Keep that in mind.

Even when the signs are subtle, the consequences can be deadly, especially if the victim doesn’t get help right away.

While heart disease is the No. 1 killer of women in the United States, women often chalk up the symptoms to less life-threatening conditions like acid reflux, the flu or normal aging.  Many women have an ‘others first’ kind of mentality due to being caregivers, and may put off symptoms simply because they ‘don’t have time for that!’  

Heart disease is preventable. Keep these tips in mind:

-Schedule an appointment with your healthcare provider to learn your personal risk for heart disease. You can also learn your risk with the American Heart Association’s Heart Attack Risk Calculator, located on their website at www.heart.org

-Know Your Numbers.  Use this guide:

• Blood pressure Less than 120/80
• Total cholesterol Less than 200 mg/dL
• LDL -“Bad” cholesterol Less than 100 mg/dL**
• HDL -“Good” cholesterol Greater than 50 mg
• Triglycerides Less than 150 mg/dL
• Glucose (HbA1c) Less than 7%
• Body mass index (BMI) 18.5-24.9 kg/m2
• Waist circumference Less than 35 inches

   

-Quit smoking. Did you know that just one year after you quit, you’ll cut your risk of coronary heart disease by 50 percent?

-Start an exercise program. Just walking 30 minutes a day can lower your risk for heart attack and stroke.

-Modify your family’s diet if needed. For example, with poultry, use the leaner light meat (breasts) instead of the fattier dark meat (legs and thighs), and be sure to remove the skin.

The Health Center urges all women to take care of your heart.  While we are used to be caregivers, we have to take care of ourselves first in order to be able to take care of others.

Source: American Heart Association