If you have been making never-ending efforts to stop smoking with no success, you should understand that you are not alone. Smoking harms your body entirely, and nearly one-third of deaths due to heart diseases are linked to intense smoking and prolonged passive smoking.
During the late 2000s, e-cigarettes were introduced in the market, giving hope to all the smokers in the world. They were considered as the right nicotine replacement. This is because they do not have tobacco content. Vaping involves inhaling flavored liquid, which contains lots of chemicals. However, some doctors were quick to discern the harmful repercussions of vaping.
As per the reports by the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), nearly 500 new types of lung diseases have been observed that are directly linked with vaping.
Today, there has been a general acceptance, especially amongst teenagers, because of various options available.
As per the US Surgeon General, in high schools, among young people, there has been a significant increase of nearly 900% of vaping between 2011 and 2015. These are alarming numbers, and it has become more critical than ever to raise awareness of the adverse effects of vaping. Getting rid of vaping is as tricky as smoking. Hence, we should look at some of the harmful effects vaping has on our health.
Exposure to chemicals
Traditional cigarettes have tobacco concentration that can be smoked after lighting the tip of the cigarette. However, e-cigarettes consist of liquid mixed with nicotine, added artificial flavors and chemicals (most of them are highly toxic) for creating vapor that we inhale.
The smoke is produced by an inner circuitry that heats the liquid and vaporizes it. When this vapor is inhaled, the internal organs are exposed to harmful chemicals that show their effects over a long period of time.
So, it is not surprising to see a surging rise in the lungs related diseases that are heavily associated with intense vaping. In November 2019, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) stated the deaths of nearly 47 individuals due to heavy vaping.
Despite e-cigarettes not having tobacco concentration, it is the chemical composition that makes up the liquid can have harmful and life-threatening effects on your lungs and heart.
Not suitable for heart and lungs
Both in traditional as well as e-cigarettes, nicotine is the prime substance. Mainly, it is highly addictive. It affects your nervous system and makes you crave and suffer from withdrawal symptoms if you stop consuming them. More than anything, nicotine is highly toxic. Along with giving us temporary pleasure by shooting up our adrenaline, it also increases our blood pressure and heart rate.
Based on years of study, heart attacks have been strongly linked with intense smoking and stress. And the statistics we have links vaping to chronic lung diseases, asthma, and other cardiovascular problems.
Research suggests that there were nearly 530 cases of lung damage and seven deaths caused due to intense vaping reported in September 2019.
Following are the symptoms of vape-related lung damage:
- Intense coughing
- Difficulty in breathing
- Loss of weight
- Frequent nausea and vomiting
- Diarrhea
What vaping does is it merely substitutes tobacco concentration with nicotine combined with toxic chemicals. With vaping, you welcome various poisonous substances to your bodies, which can have adverse effects on your heart and lungs.
Harmful effects on the developing brain
Developing brains of growing teens are more vulnerable to addiction in general. Hence, we see an increasing number of teenagers and high school students getting addicted to vaping devices. Vaping offers them a chance to smoke without any tobacco concentration. However, there are lots of other harmful chemical components present which they aren’t aware of.
There are some brands available in the market today that have hazardous levels of nicotine concentration in the e-cigarettes. Most of them have twice as much as the traditional ones.
And developing brains have the least resistance to the adverse effects of nicotine. It quite often leads to addiction, mood disorders, and reduces resistance to impulses.
It affects the prefrontal cortex severely. This area is highly crucial for attention, decision making, planning, assessing, and judging. Hence, it is easy to see how badly it can affect our brain.
Long term effects of Vaping
Vaping is as addictive as smoking. And prolonged vaping can only have hazardous effects on your internal organs. The chemicals used in the liquid have various toxic elements that can disturb the normal functioning of major organs such as lungs and heart.
Although it is considered as a much safer option than traditional smoking, we cannot dismiss the amount of heart-related illnesses reported that are directly linked with vaping.
One Juul pod consists of approximately the same amount of nicotine as what you find in a pack of cigarettes (20 cigarettes). This is astonishing, and if this amount of nicotine is smoked regularly, then the person is more prone to severe heart and lung-related diseases.
On November 20, 2019, based on a survey across the 49 states, approximately 3000 cases of lung and heart illnesses associated with vaping were reported. The numbers are very alarming, and it is best to learn from these statistics that no good can come from vaping.
It is highly imperative to spread awareness that there is no alternative to tobacco smoking, and it is best to take real efforts and stop smoking completely.
https://www.cdc.gov/tobacco/basic_information/e-cigarettes/severe-lung-disease.html
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