Are rising temperatures turning your focus to your pale and pasty skin? Don't let your dreams of a golden, glowing tan lead you to less-than-safe options, like an indoor tanning bed (A girl in the U.K. suffered burns over 70 percent of her body after lying in a tanning bed for just 16 minutes.) Instead, opt to indulge in the sun safely. Check out AOL Health's picks for the best and worst sunscreens to see what you should be slathering on this season.

At 29-years-old, Zita Farrelly died of skin cancer. But she wasn't at the beach 6 times a week, or outside all summer without ever using sunblock. Ms. Farrely's cancer was due entirely to her excessive use of tanning beds.

From age 14 to 21, the mother of two used sunbeds twice a day -- hundreds and hundreds of times -- then stopped, when she learned of the negative impact tanning could have on her health. It was already too late, however, as last year she found a mole on her leg, which was later diagnosed as melanoma.

Her family is now working to warn others of the dangers of using sunbeds -- hoping to prevent similar tragedies.

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While I'll admit that I used a tanning bed once or twice when I was young and not-so-wise, I can't say I ever enjoyed the experience: Get naked in a cubicle, sweat inside a box while wearing those funny glasses, and leave with that unpleasant "tanner" smell following you everywhere you go -- not my idea of fun.

But did you know that it's possible to be addicted to tanning? Recent research found that when people were given a drug that blocked endorphins in the brain, they had withdrawal symptoms after their next tanning sessions. Not only that, when people were asked to tan in UVA or non-UVA beds without knowing which was which, they eventually and unconsciously were drawn to the UVA beds.

Experts say there are three signs that you're addicted to tanning:

1. You just can't stop tanning.
2. When you get up in the morning, you can't wait to tan.
3. People tell you that you have a problem and it ticks you off.

I think I'd add #4: You have tough, leathery, sun-damaged skin, and if you don't, you will soon. Get your rays the natural way -- outdoors and with plenty of sunscreen.

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Ever hear the phrase "stay out of the sun!"? I have and I bet at some point you have as well from your parents or guardians. But many of us now know that decent amounts of sun exposure is actually very beneficial to health.

After all, human civilizations were almost always formed under thousands of years under direct sunlight, so it is presumptuous for us to think that we always need to use sunscreen or sunblock to ensure we don't get "any" sun.

Sun exposure, after all, helps the body produce its own Vitamin K -- think of it (no more supplementation...well, sort of). Seriously though, about 10 minutes of exposure to the sun (as much of your lovely bod as possible) is suggested by many health experts -- even for light-skinned folks.

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If you're a teen or a yound adult in your early 20s -- and if you're female especially -- you may have gone to tanning beds to try and perfect that all-over body tan. If so, you may have heard that the artificial light used in many tanning beds is actually much worse for your than natural sunlight.

But, new research is again stating and reinforcing that using tannings beds while in your late teenage years and early 20s significantly increases your propensity for developing skin cancer.

The International Agency for Research on Cancer -- in its latest findings -- said its research also showed that tanning booths had no positive heath effects (this is no surprise really). The report stated that "The data showed a prominent and consistent increase in risk for melanoma in people who first used sunbeds in their 20s or teen years ... a 75-percent increase in risk of melanoma was calculated for such users."

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