As the weather gets warmer, crowds gather around Owen Beach. Students study, relax and play sports under the sun. As they enjoy the warm weather, the sun penetrates their skin, producing a slight tan or sunburn.

But according to Stephanie Sobol, the assistant director of Health Promotion, this tan is a sign of skin damage.

“Any time you darken your skin, you damage it,” Sobol said.

Radiation from the sun wreaks havoc on the cell’s DNA, according to Charles Hardin, an associate professor of biochemistry.

“The quintessential damage is a reaction in which two of the nuclear base structures within the DNA become literally cross-linked to each other,” he said.

The result of this process is called a thymidine dimer. When this occurs, the DNA is mutated and can’t be used for its normal biological purpose, according to Hardin. He said if the damage is extensive enough, the cell can’t recover from the damage and will die.

When a person receives even a minor sunburn or light tan from the sun, Hardin said thousands — if not millions — of cells die. He said the more often this process occurs, the more likely it will be that the damaged cell will mutate in the wrong way and become cancerous.

However, DNA mutation is not a rare thing.

“We are constantly undergoing thousands of DNA mutations per minute,” Hardin said.

He said the mutations and damage are repairable. Also, the human body is made to be able to handle sunlight.

“Tanning is a natural response of skin to protect against the harmful ultraviolet radiation,” Hardin said.

He said about one in every 100 cells in the skin surface is specialized to absorb radiation. This cell produces a brown pigment called melanin. This process short-circuits the damage mechanism of the sun.

Although the body is built to handle only moderate doses of sunlight, Hardin said the scientific community is still trying to figure out how to define “moderate” in this context.

Sobol said one way to try to protect the skin is to be as safe as possible with activity. However, she warns people who have a family history of skin cancer to be extra careful, because they have an increased risk of developing the disease.

Sobol encouraged monthly skin checks and said it’s good for people to know their skin and moles. She also advised going to a physician once a year for a mole check.

She said everyone is at risk for skin damage. She also said she doesn’t believe any type of tanning is healthy.

However, according to Hardin, some forms of tanning are safer than others.

He said environments with more particularly harmful radiation are more dangerous. He said this harmful radiation is produced with a higher energy and corresponds to a shorter wavelength.

Although all tanning is dangerous.

“Even though you might tan wonderfully doesn’t mean you’re not being damaged really badly,” Hardin said.

Another danger of tanning is that the damage adds up, according to Hardin. Also, Hardin said it takes at least seven different very specific damage events to occur for a normal person under normal circumstances to develop cancer.

To help protect against that, Sobol said prevention and early detection are important.

She said people should wear sunscreen if they are going to be in the sun, regardless of what they are doing, and even if they already have a tan. She said a tan does not protect the skin from further damage.