Fitness and a 'Healthy Glow'

I'm from Pennsylvania and I am about as pale as they come. I don't tan, I burn even wearing SPF 50. When my husband and I got married, I thought I would try to get a nice tan. I started going to the tanning bed and lying  in there for about 5 minutes at a time. My husband asked me what I was doing. I told him I wanted to look nice for the wedding. He told me, he loved my pasty skin.... Now that is about as sweet as my dear hubby gets, but it was enough for me to stop, seemed like a waste of money and an even more waste of time. Well, that was about seven years ago, right around the time I first got certified as a personal trainer.
After we married, we were stationed in Warner Robins, GA and I was hired at a Gold's Gym. Not only did we both get free gym memberships, we received unlimited tanning. Now, as much as I didn't want to tan, my husband is Mexican and people just don't get much darker than he is already, so, needless to say, we never once tanned. But working at the desk, day in and day out, I would see the same people, workout then head to the tanning bed. A coworker of mine included.
She was so pretty, tiny little thing, very fit, with pretty brown hair. I was about 23 and she was about 34. However, she looked so much older, all the tanning had lead to premature aging on her face, it was sad to see. Another customer, who had been apparently tanning for years, was so dried out, her legs looked like leather. All I could think was, if that they were not worried about skin cancer, did they at least not see the way it was making them look?
I'm 30 years old with two kids. My 6 month old wakes up about 530 am each morning, I am often over tired. However, I still get many compliments that I do not look even 30 (not that 30 is old). I contribute my youthful face (and you should see my older sister) to exercise, lots of water, not smoking and most of all, wearing sunscreen! If how you look is not enough for you to reconsider baking yourself in the sun or a nice man made torture chamber, how about your health?
It baffles me that fitness and tanning seem to be interlinked. A vast majority of health clubs offer tanning, many time, unlimited, with no additional cost. Its seems utterly ludicrous. The idea of being healthy and then willingly upping your chances of skin cancer, makes me wonder, 'why bother?' Why go through the trouble of staying fit, just to risk cancer? With so many risks already inherently ingrained into our modern lifestyle, why would you add to it? I have two theories, 1) Ignorance, people just don't know about the risks and many believe indoor tanning is safer than sun bathing or 2) People just think it won't happen to them. I think #2 may be more likely, considering that the majority of people using tanning beds are women under 35; the young have been known to believe in certain youthful invincibility. WebMD states that 85% of wrinkles are caused from sun damage (or indoor tanning) Sun damage leads to a number of cancers including basal cell carcinoma, melanoma, and even cataracts. WedMD
Maybe we need to read up. Here are some facts about tanning :
Skincancer.org
Healthology

Just remember, that healthy glow now, will be a nice uneven skin tone, with red blotches and possible cancer in future.
According to aad.org

• By 2015, it is estimated that 1 in 50 Americans will develop melanoma in their lifetime
• About 75 percent of skin cancer deaths are from melanoma
• In 2010, new research found that daily sunscreen use cut the incidence of melanoma, the deadliest form of skin cancer, in half
•  Exposure to tanning beds increases the risk of melanoma, especially in women aged 45 years or younger.¹⁵
  • In females 15-29 years old, the torso/trunk is the most common location for developing melanoma, which may be due to high-risk tanning behaviors

There is a simple solution, wear sunscreen and cover up!  Stay healthy and live a happy, productive life :) Don't make the lifestyle change to exercise and eat healthy, just to slowly roast yourself like a Thanksgiving Day Turkey.  Be healthy and well rounded in all aspects of life and remember, what you do today, will have repercussions tomorrow. Newton told us long ago, "For every action, there will be an equal and opposite reaction."