If you're thinking about stopping smoking, you're not alone. About 7 out of 10 smokers want to quit. Stopping smoking is very good for your health. Smoking hurts nearly every part of your body, including your heart. A lot of people die from heart problems because of smoking and breathing in other people's smoke.
You might want to try e-cigarettes (like vape pens and other vaping devices) to help you move from smoking to not smoking at all. But are e-cigarettes better for you than normal cigarettes? Can they help you quit smoking for good? Michael Blaha, a doctor and research director at the Johns Hopkins Ciccarone Center for the Prevention of Heart Disease, gives us information about vaping.
1: Vaping is not as bad as smoking, but it is still not safe.
E-cigarettes warm up nicotine, flavors, and other chemicals to make a mist that you breathe in. Normal cigarettes have 7,000 chemicals, and a lot of them are harmful. We're not sure what's in e-cigarettes, but Blaha says vaping probably gives you fewer bad chemicals than normal cigarettes.
But there have been lung problems and deaths because of vaping. In February 2020, the health officials confirmed 2,807 lung injury cases and 68 deaths from vaping.
These problems often happen to people who change their vaping devices or use illegal vaping liquids, especially those with THC. THC products used in vaping sometimes use a chemical called vitamin E acetate, which has been found in the lungs of people who got sick from vaping.
Health officials say people should:
Not use THC e-cigarettes or vape products. Not buy vaping devices from friends, family, or online sellers that are not official. Not change or add anything to a vaping device that the maker did not say to use. Research from Johns Hopkins University in October 2021 found many chemicals in vape products. Some of these are bad for you, like caffeine, chemicals not found before in e-cigarettes, a pesticide, and flavorings that can hurt and irritate your lungs.
2: Vaping could be bad for your heart and lungs.
Nicotine is in both normal cigarettes and e-cigarettes and is very addictive. It makes you want to smoke and feel bad when you don't. Nicotine is harmful. It makes your blood pressure go up and can make your heart beat faster, which can lead to a heart attack.
Is vaping bad? There are many things we don't know about vaping, like the chemicals in the vapor and how they might affect your health over time. Blaha says, "E-cigarettes could be dangerous to your health." Studies are showing that vaping might lead to lung problems, asthma, and heart problems when used with smoking.
3: E-cigarettes are as addictive as regular ones.
Both e-cigarettes and regular cigarettes have nicotine. Research shows nicotine is as addictive as heroin and cocaine. Blaha says that e-cigarette users might get even more nicotine than from normal cigarettes because they can use stronger cartridges or increase the power to get more nicotine.
4: E-cigarettes are not the best way to stop smoking.
E-cigarettes are not officially approved to help people quit smoking. Studies show that people who wanted to quit smoking by using e-cigarettes often keep using both e-cigarettes and normal cigarettes.
Because of the vaping health problems, health officials advise people to think carefully and maybe try other ways to quit smoking that are approved.
5: More young people are starting to use nicotine because of e-cigarettes.
E-cigarettes are very popular with kids, more than normal tobacco. In 2021, more than 2 million students in the U.S. said they used e-cigarettes, and most of them liked flavored ones.
Make the shift to a healthy habit instead. Start your journey and quit.
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