Smoking addiction is an epidemic affecting millions of people around the world. Ever since the health effects of smoking have been studied and revealed, more and more people have decided to take it upon themselves to try to kick the habit. Information about smoking have been readily available for the last few decades which made smokers rightly worried for their health. In fact, 7 out of 10 smokers, as recent surveys have shown, have said that they want to quit. Smoking is said to be able negatively affect every organ in the body, most noticeably, the lungs and the heart. Research suggests that is linked directly and indirectly to a third of all deaths due to heart failures. The indirect effect of smoking is from secondhand smoke or smoke inhaled from another person by someone who may be a smoker or not.
E-cigs or electronic cigarettes are seen as the perfect escape from smoking habits. It is proven that changing to electronic cigarettes from regular ones is an easy transition and can help to finally stop smoking later on. But is vaping, another term of e-cigarette smoking, truly a better choice for a person than regular cigarettes? And despite some success stories, people who stopped smoking completely after picking up vaping are too few and far between. In this article we will talk about the truths about vaping and vaping prevention.
Vaping is not as harmful as smoking
The way vaping devices work is that it heat up nicotine, the addictive agent found in tobacco, then mixes it with vapor to be inhaled. When smoking traditional cigarette sticks, aside from the nicotine, you will inhale 7000 other chemicals and most of which are toxic. While vaping desires to imitate the experience of traditional smoking, most experts doubt that the toxicity would reach the same level.
Vaping is bad for your health
Nicotine is the addictive component found in both cigarettes and e-cigarettes. This means that you will crave for the substance and suffer withdrawal symptoms the moment you deny yourself the chemical. It is important to take note that nicotine is a toxic substance and your body will try to reject it. It spikes up your adrenaline, thus straining your pancreas and heart, and spikes up your blood pressure. All these effects when routinely done on the body can raise the chances of having a heart attack.
There are still many things about vaping that are uncertain at this point. The bulk of which is knowing exactly what chemicals gets into the body when you vape. And what is more a mystery are the long term effects of such chemicals and vaping overall. What is certain at this point however is that there are evidences and much reason to believe that the same harmful agents in traditional smoking is still present in vaping. Thus, vaping would pose similar dangers to traditional smoking albeit to a lesser degree. The many questions surrounding the chemicals in vape smoke should also be a cause for alarm as it has not yet been fully studied yet and may have bad effects to the body that is still not known to us.
Vaping is highly addictive
Nicotine, found on both cigarettes and e-cigarettes, is the main agent that makes the body crave for smoking and vaping. Studies have shown that the addictive quality of nicotine is worse than that of both cocaine and heroin. While people who use vaping to slowly kick out the habit, an alarming number of smokers are trying out extra strength vaping cartridges which packs more nicotine than even cigarettes. The cartridges have more voltage and thus has more nicotine in each puff. This makes it even harder to quit smoking wherein even traditional smoking will not be able to satisfy the crave.
Vaping is not the best way to quit smoking
At its inception, vaping has been marketed as a tool to quit the habit of smoking and for a lot of people this has been received with great expectations. However, never has vaping been approved by any of the regulatory commissions as an effective cessation tool to quit smoking. At a recent study, most smokers that have tried on vaping ended up vaping and smoking at the same time.
Vaping prevention is nowhere in sight
The younger generation is especially more easily hooked to smoking e-cigarettes. There are figures that suggest that more and more kids nowadays have tried vaping even if they have not yet smoked actual cigarettes. There are quite many reasons why the vaping trend continues to become more influential among young people. The first one is because it has been advertised as an anti smoking solution thus relieving most people from worries about being addicted to it or any of the harmful effects that are usually reported about smokers. And while starting out vape cartridges are expensive, in the long run, vaping becomes more economical than smoking cigarettes. This means that even kids who only rely on their allowance can actually buy into the habit. On the other hand, many laws have been passed to heavily tax the tobacco industry that are mainly directed at cigarettes. Because e-cigarettes are yet to catch up in regulation, prices are still relatively low despite being derived from the same plant. And lastly, vaping has been packaged as a fun with all the various flavors that differs it from the otherwise bland cigarette.
Both young and old people find appeal in smoking e-cigarettes compared to cigarettes. It makes less of a mess compared to cigarettes that leaves cigarette butts and soot.
While it may be a uphill battle, vaping prevention is a real concern and laws are yet to catch up. When smoking started and the dangers of it were not yet well documented, a lot of people regretted even trying it. Decades later, tough laws have been implemented to ensure that the next generation does not suffer the same consequences. Vaping should also undergo the same process but it would be better if it was faster this time.