IS VAPING BAD FOR YOU?
If you’ve been thinking about trying to kick the habit of smoking, you’re not alone. Almost 7 out of 10 smokers say they want to quit. One of the best things you can do for your wellbeing is to stop smoking. Smoking harms almost every organ, including your heart, in your body. Smoking and second-hand smoke was responsible for about one-third of deaths from heart disease.
Breath in – Breath out
As a way to ease the transition from regular cigarettes to not smoking at all, you may be tempted to turn to electronic cigarettes (e-cigarettes, vape pens, and other vaping devices). But is e-cigarette smoking (also referred to as vaping) safer for you than using tobacco products? Will e-cigarettes help you, once and for all, stop smoking?
Vaping is less harmful than smoking, but it’s not safe – yet.
To produce an aerosol that you inhale, e-cigarettes heat nicotine (extracted from tobacco), flavourings, and other chemicals. Seven thousand chemicals are found in daily tobacco cigarettes, many of which are poisonous. Although we don’t know exactly what chemicals are in e-cigarettes, there is almost no doubt that you are exposed to fewer toxic chemicals than conventional cigarettes.
There has also, however, been an epidemic of vaping-related lung injuries and deaths. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reported 60 deaths in patients with e-cigarette or vaping lung injury associated with product use as of January 21, 2020.
These cases mainly involve individuals who change their vaping devices or use modified e-liquids from the black market. This is particularly true for the vaporisation of tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) containing products.
Want to vape without bumping into the Grim Reaper anytime soon? Read on:
- Do not use e-cigarette-containing THC or vaping materials.
- To purchase a vaping product, stop using informal outlets, such as friends, relatives, or online dealers.
- Do not change or introduce to a vaporizing system any substances that are not intended by the manufacturer.
Evidence suggests for your heart and lungs that vaping is bad
We can’t argue this fact. In both regular cigarettes and e-cigarettes, nicotine is the principal-agent, and it is highly addictive. If you ignore the craving, it leads you to long for a cigarette and experience withdrawal symptoms. Nicotine is a poisonous drug as well. This raises your blood pressure and increases your adrenaline intake, which boosts your heart rate and your risk of having a heart attack.
Vaping is harmful, right? Hmm, not so quick…Vaping has many unknowns, including what ingredients make up the vapour and how they affect long-term physical health. People need to understand that e-cigarettes are potentially dangerous for their health. Emerging evidence indicates ties to chronic lung disease and asthma and links to dual e-cigarette use and cardiovascular disease smoking. You’re exposing yourself to all sorts of substances that are certainly not healthy and that we don’t understand yet.
Electronic cigarettes are as addictive as traditional cigarettes
Nicotine is found in both e-cigarettes, and standard cigarettes, which evidence indicates may be as addictive as heroin and cocaine. What’s worse, many e-cigarette users get even more nicotine than they would get from a tobacco product. You can buy extra-strength cartridges with a higher nicotine concentration, or you can raise the voltage of the e-cigarette to get a higher substance hit.
Does Smoking Lead to Vaping?
That’s like asking does dagga leads to crack cocaine. There is no way to tell whether one bad habit leads to another. As ways to help tobacco smokers quit, vaping and e-cigarettes are also marketed. But what about the opposite? Will vaping later result in frequent smoking of cigarettes?
The Best Smoking Cessation Method is Not Electronic Cigarettes
While they have been advertised to help you quit smoking, e-cigarettes have not gained approval as smoking cessation devices from the Food and Drug Administration. A new study found that most individuals who wanted to use e-cigarettes to quit the habit of nicotine ended up consuming both conventional and e-cigarettes.
The CDC urges adults who use e-cigarettes for smoking cessation in the sense of the EVALI outbreak to assess the risks and benefits and to explore the use of other smoking cessation alternatives approved by the FDA.
Getting Hooked on Nicotine is a New Generation
E-cigarettes are more common among young people than any conventional tobacco product. In 2015, the U.S. surgeon general announced that e-cigarette use had increased by 900 percent among high school students, and 40 percent of young e-cigarette users had never smoked regular tobacco.
There are three reasons why e-cigarettes could be especially attractive to young people. Next, many teens think vaping is less risky than smoking. Second, there is a lower per-user cost of e-cigarettes than conventional cigarettes. Finally, vapor cartridges are also designed with flavorings that cater to younger consumers, such as apple pie and watermelon.
The absence of smoke appeals to both teenagers and adults. With no smell, the stigma of smoking is minimized by e-cigarettes.
Want to quit smoking?
A clear correlation exists between smoking and cardiovascular disease and between cancer and smoking. But the quicker you stop, the better you can rebound and rebuild your body. Speak to your doctor about what would be the right smoking cessation program or instruments for you.