Weekly Newsletter: Tanning Beds NOT Dangerous With Sensible Usage?

Yes, a huge new studies on tanning beds. We've learned that these are always dangerous but that may not be the case according to new publications.

Here's what you need to know, with a huge 2026 upgrade in our understanding:

Paradigm-Shifting Tanning Beds Study Tracking Users Long-Term

So this study is just out in May 2026 and extremely important in my opinion. The topic is melanoma - the most dangerous type of skin cancer - and tanning bed use.

You may know that I've written very extensively about the topic, such as here on sunlight exposure and melanoma risk:

My free advanced science course also has a 2026 update about melanoma and other type of skin cancer risk.

Skin cancer, as well as skin aging, is probably the most common reason why people avoid sunlight and tanning beds. If we can put that risk into a lot more context, and how to minmize or even eliminate the risk, more people would enjoy both most likely.

So let's go back to the May 2026 study. Here, users of tanning beds, as well as non-users, were tracked for a whopping 34 years. Here's the outcome of the study:

"The Melanoma of Southern Sweden (MISS) cohort included ~ 29,000 women enrolled in 1990 and followed for up to 34 years. Solarium use and sun exposure habits were assessed at baseline and after 10 years. Participants were categorized as non-users, solarium users without, or with indicators of intermittent solar overexposure. "

So, it's 3 different groups here:

Solarium ("tanning beds") non-users
Solarium users who didn't have signs of overexposure
Solarium users who do have signs of overexposure

Here's the very important outcome, not only on melanoma but also all-cause mortality:

So, melanoma incidence - which means getting that cancer type, basically - goes up in those with "risk behavior" but not those without.

But, even more importantly, all-cause mortality goes down in both groups. "All-cause mortality" is your overall risk of dying, whether from cancer, heart disease, diabetes and its complications, falls, neurodegeneration, etc.

Strangely enough, despite the 60% increase in melanoma risk, all-cause mortality goes down by 19% in the "risk behavior" group.

Now, you may think: "What's that risk behavior?" Researchers describe it the following way:

"Indicators of intermittent solar overexposure were defined as at least one of self-reported use of sunscreen to enable prolonged sunbathing, sunburn related to sun exposure, or traveling south at least one week per year for sunbathing."

Basically:

Using sunscreen to stay in the sun longer
Sunrburns
Traveling closer to the equator for 1 week a year or more to get more sunlight

(LOL I'm guilty as charged with the bottom one as I moved there to get continuous sunlight).

But the biggest mindfuck? Your overall mortality risk goes down with more sunbed use, even with risky behavior. Even I didn't expect that!

Lastly, I will say the study isn't perfect in terms of methodology. This is not a randomized controlled trial with a control and intervention group. Here, rather, study participants are included and then tracked over time. The issue is that having a control (no sunbeds here) and intervention (sunbed usage) groups tracked for 10+ years will likely cost into the $10M+ USD.

Hence, the researchers use a simpler setup such as this, although methodologically imperfect.

The good news? Ultraviolet light exposure is back. Here's what the researchers concluded based on the data in the study:

"Our findings indicate that solarium use per se was not associated with an increased risk of melanoma; instead, the excess risk observed among solarium users appeared to be attributable to behaviors indicative of intermittent solar overexposure. At the same time, solarium users exhibited lower all-cause mortality, underscoring that different patterns of UV exposure may be associated with divergent health outcomes. Melanoma-specific mortality was not significantly affected by solarium use. Taken together; these findings suggest that preventive efforts should prioritize reducing intermittent solar UV overexposure rather than targeting solarium use per se."

So, ideally, don't get a sunburn! Don't overdo the UV light exposure. But in controlled exposure, it's healthy and your overall risk of dying goes down.

Here Are Our Latest Light Therapy Insiders' Articles:

Every single article that we've published recently - you can find the videos in the article itself:

The 2026 Red Light Therapy Showdown Is Coming—Meet the Contenders! - Yes, huge news, here are all the panels competing in the 2026 red light therapy comparison!
7 Things You MUST Know Before Buying a Red Light Therapy Panel - Here's the updated red light therapy buyer's guide from 2026 - the previous version was our most important video to date with 500K views!
Red Light Therapy: Why MORE Power Doesn't Mean Better Results - Alex will change his measurement methodology of panels due to this new insight/lesson, and switch from 6 inches to 12 inches. Alex explains why using panels at 12 inches makes more sense, as we've got a lot more new data coming in on that...
Why Red Light Therapy Panels WIN: Not Belts, Masks, Beds, Wraps & More - New interview with Bart and Jon Grant on why red light therapy panels are generally the preferred tool for general health, and not masks, beds, wraps, and others. Jon presents some great case studies on Rheumatoid Arthritis, Parkinson's, etc, using panels

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