Teens cannot wait until school is out so they can get their share of the sun by playing sports, spending time at the pool, and being outside all day– free of small, suffocating classrooms during the day and dim lamp lighting over their homework at night.

“”I plan on going to the beach and spending a lot of time with friends and saving up to move to Florida,” senior Ceilidh Williams said.

The warm weather is also making it tempting to dream about laying by the pool under the hot sun with hopes of getting a nice tan this summer.

Due to pale skin being an unpopular desire among most people, especially girls, tanning is something many look forward to doing once the weather gets hotter.

Everyone knows of the dangers that tanning can bring, including diseases such as skin cancer and premature skin aging such as wrinkles and brown spots.

These high risks have become known among teenagers as according to a new government study, the number of U.S. teens who use indoor tanning has dropped by half in recent years.

Results from a U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention survey reveals that about 7 percent of high school students use indoor tanning, significantly lower than the 16 percent of students who used it in 2009.

Still, even with this drop, more than 1 million teens are still putting themselves in danger by going to tanning salons and laying inside tanning beds.

Also, although the amount of teenagers who are using tanning beds has decreased, the same cannot necessarily be said about the amount of adolescents who are tanning outdoors.

Even though tanning beds and lamps can expose you to even more harmful ultraviolet light than the sun does, tanning outdoors is no better than doing it indoors because you are still under the same risks.

“”I’m not a big fan of the idea of tanning beds. I feel that it’s really fake and makes people want to change the way they look drastically” Williams said.

Most people do not realize that tanned skin is actually damaged skin. The more that area of your skin gets tan, the more it is being burned, and the more likely skin cancer can arise there.

According to the American Academy of Dermatology, just one sunburn during adolescence is enough to double one’s lifetime risk of melanoma, a serious type of skin cancer.

“”I do burn pretty easy at the beginning of summer,” Williams said. “I used to not care about it, but now since I have my tattoos I put on lots of spray sunscreen to protect my skin.””

The likely cause for the drop in the amount of teenagers who are taking part in indoor tanning is due to state laws restricting teens’ use of tanning beds.

Only five states had laws restricting indoor tanning in 2009, but by 2015 such laws had been placed in 42 states.

However, most of these laws are not bans, but limitations that only require parental consent in order to use a tanning booth.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has proposed but has not acted on a federal rule that restricts access to tanning beds for kids under 18.

In Virginia, anyone under the age of 15 needs permission from a parent or legal guardian to take part in a tanning session.

There are several nearby tanning salons in the neighboring areas like Hollywood Tans Fairfax and Palm Beach Tan in Alexandria.

That said, in order to lessen the amount of young adults that are unknowingly and immaturely risking their lives for the sake of a short-term tan, stricter bans should be placed on indoor tanning.

“”Tanning beds should have an age limit of 18,” Williams said. “If you’re old enough to live on your own, you’re old enough to change your appearance.”

Avoiding tanning beds should be easy, but in the next couple of months, there is no escaping the sun.

In order to keep yourself and your skin safe, keep hats and sunscreen handy and try not to stay under the sun for more than an hour if uncovered. Sunscreen is most effective with an SPF of 50 and it is important to re-apply– especially if you are going in and out of a swimming pool.

“There’s an extent to how harmful tanning can be, but sunscreen should always be applied no matter the kind of skin tone you have,” senior Tran Nguyen said.

Remember that tanning is not worth all the risks and that your natural skin is a beautiful shade as it is. After all, a tan is temporary, but cancer is permanent and fatal.