Vaping Prevention: The Hidden Dangers of Vaping

Image result for Vaping Prevention: The Hidden Dangers of Vaping

If you’ve been trying to quit smoking or vaping for some time now, know that you’re not alone. Research shows that about 7 out of 10 smokers express their desire to quit. Quitting smoking is not easy, but it’s one of the best things you can do for yourself and for your health. Smoking is not the only thing that’s bad for your health. Vaping is also considered harmful. Vaping, contrary to what most people claim, also present some risks to our health like smoking. This is why you can see a lot of articles written on smoking and vaping prevention online.

Why Vaping Prevention is Important

When e-cigarettes or vaping devices first appeared a few years ago, they were advertised as sleek, discreet devices that could help adult smokers curb or put an end to a potentially life-threatening habit. 

In 2018, the Juul vape device took over at about ¾ of the U.S e-cigarette market. However, instead of catering to adult smokers, it appears that the e-cigarette industry issignificantly targeting non-smokers, particularly those from the younger age group. 

People who have attempted to quit smoking were often advised to turn to e-cigarettes as a way to make the transition from traditional smoking to finally quitting easier. But are e-cigarettes any better than tobacco products? Can vape devices and e-cigarettes help you quit smoking for good? Why are there vaping prevention campaigns coming out now?

Vaping Prevention: Things You Should Know About Vaping

Before we dive into a lot of crucial information on vaping and vaping prevention, it is important to approach this topic with an open mind. E-cigarettes may be less harmful than tobacco and traditional cigarettes, but they are still bad for your health. 

Below are some of the things that experts believe should be enough reason to discourage anyone from vaping and e-cigarettes.

 

  • Vaping Harms Your Health

 

One of the main ingredients in traditional cigarettes and e-cigarettes is nicotine. It is highly addictive and causes you to crave smoking more and more. When you ignore the craving, you end up suffering from withdrawal symptoms that can get pretty ugly. 

Besides being addictive, nicotine is also a toxic substance that raises blood pressure and adrenaline. This in turn increases your heart rate and makes you at risk of having a heart attack. 

 

  • Vaping Is Linked to Increased Risk of Seizures

 

When you turn an e-cigarette or a vaping device on, you’re heating liquid or “juice” that has flavors, other chemicals, and nicotine. 

There are some vape and e-cig devices that deliver extraordinarily high dosage of nicotine. A good example for this would be Juul, one of the most popular e-cig brands out there today. Juul claims one of its e-liquid pods has the same level of nicotine as a pack of cigarettes. 

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has already issued warnings regarding nicotine-induced seizures that are apparently an unusual side effect of vaping. There have been at least 35 reported cases of seizures following the use of an e-cigarette over the past 10 years. 

Although 35 cases may not seem a lot when you take into account the total number of people using e-cigarettes, it is still a cause for concern. It is also highly possible that not all cases have been reported as well. 

Research has long proven that seizures are a side-effect of nicotine poisoning. Nicotine poisoning is recognized as the number one risk tobacco workers face when they handle tobacco leaves. 

 

  • Nicotine in Vape and E-cigarettes May Stress the Cardiovascular System

 

One major cause of concern from smoking and vaping prevention experts is the negative effect nicotine has on our heart’s health. Nicotine in cigarettes has the same effect as nicotine in e-cigarettes. Experts have been studying the connection between e-cigarettes and cardiovascular health. Nicotine increases the adrenaline flowing in our bodies and it also activates the sympathetic nervous system, raises blood pressure, speeds up the heart rate, and causes the arteries to narrow. 

Vaping and e-cigarette’s impact on the body’s cardiovascular system is an up and coming area of research. More and more studies are piling up to support the idea that vaping could actually be bad for our heart. 

 

  • Microscopic Particles in Vape devices and E-cigarettes Linked to heart attacks, High blood pressure and Coronary artery diseases

 

Another fact that smoking and vaping prevention experts want to point out is that vape and e-cigarettes may still carry other heart heath risks even when they are nicotine-free.  The heating component in e-cigarettes produce tiny particles, even metals, that can implant themselves onto the lungs and perhaps even get absorbed into the body. This increases the risk for cardiovascular toxicity. 

New research have shown that smoking e-cigarettes increase the concentration of microscopic pollutants, such as PM2.5 and ultrafine particles, even in indoor settings. 

Although there is no data on what risks vape and e-cig aerosol particles hold, but they have been extensively studied in connection with pollution and tobacco smoking. Researchers discovered, with those studies, the connection between exposure to small particles and high blood pressure, coronary artery diseases, and heart attacks. 

 

  • E-cigarette Vapor Can Irritate The Lungs

 

Majority of the harmful effects of smoking tobacco comes from the combustion process—the smoke destroys the cells coating the lungs and makes them more vulnerable to cancer-causing chemicals in cigarettes. Because e-cigarettes and vapes do not burn tobacco, the vapor they give off is assumed to be less harmful than the traditional cigarette smoke. However this doesn’t mean that vapor is entirely off the hook.

It’s been proven that breathing vapor into the lungs can irritate them. Proof of this is the fact that people who use the e-cigarettes for the first time break into a wheezing cough. Wheezing is more than just a sign of irritation—it can also be a sign of heart failure, lung cancer, and emphysema. 

 

  • They Are not Effective Smoking Cessation Devices

 

While they have been advertised and sold under the guise of helping smokers quit the habit, e-cigarettes have not received approval from the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) as a smoking cessation device. It’s been well documented that most people who started using e-cigarettes to help kick or curb their nicotine habit ended up continuing to smoke using e-cigarettes and traditional tobacco cigarettes.

Do E-Cigarettes and Vape Device Help People Quit Smoking? 

It is still unclear whether or not the rise in vaping actually helps a lot of adults quit smoking tobacco. According to advocates of e-cigarettes and vaping prevention, e-cigarettes are more popular compared to traditional tobacco products among the youth today. A 2015 report by the U.S. surgeon general revealed that the use of e-cigarettes among high school students increased by a whopping 900%.  40 percent of these young e-cigarette users have never smoked regular tobacco before. 

Experts believe there are three reasons why e-cigarettes are attractive to the younger generation. First, it’s because teens believe that vaping is not as harmful as smoking, second e-cigarettes are cheaper than traditional cigarettes, and third, vape cartridges come with various flavorings such as apple, orange, kiwi, or watermelon—everything that appeals to younger smokers. 

Another factor that young teens and adults find appealing about e-cigs and vapes is the lack of smell. Without the strong, repulsive smell of tobacco, e-cigarettes help diminish the stigma against smoking. 

What’s concerning about the rise of vaping and e-cigarettes,  according to vaping prevention advocates, is that people who have never smoked before, are now taking up the habit with vape. In the end, they’ll end up using nicotine with vaping and eventually lead to using traditional tobacco cigarettes.

There is strong evidence, as vaping prevention advocates say, that suggests e-cigarettes acts as a gateway to traditional cigarette smoking among the younger crowd.

Conclusion

There are still a lot of unconfirmed information about vaping, including the kind of chemicals that make up the vapors and how they affect one’s physical health in the long run. While most e-cigarette and vape users swear they are safe, people need to understand that these devices still pose a potential risk to our health. Why? Because when we inhale and take a puff from an e-cigarette, we expose ourselves to all sorts of chemicals that we are not familiar with and are probably not safe. 

Traditional cigarettes and e-cigarettes both contain nicotine, which has been found to be as equally addictive as cocaine and heroine. The worse part? Most e-cigarette users consume even more nicotine than they usually would compared to traditional cigarettes. Why? Because the can purchase extra-strength cartridges  with higher dosages of nicotine. You can also increase an e-cigarette’s voltage to increase the hit you get from the substance. No wonder a lot of people get addicted and continue smoking.

If you are planning to seriously quit smoking, then there’s no need or you to resort to using e-cigarettes or vapes. While these products give you the illusion of a safer, better smoking experience, they do nothing but expose us to unknown health risks. They also do not help quit our curb our cravings for traditional cigarettes.