There has been quite some controversy around whether or not vaping can help you quit smoking traditional cigarettes, but in recent years there has been growing scientific evidence pointing to the fact that it does.
With more people using e-cigs and vaping devices than ever before, it is time to have a quick look at the evidence and you can decide for yourself!
-
The Addictive Bit
Nicotine is the addictive element in the traditional cigarette and in small doses is no more harmful to you than caffeine. It is an extremely fast-acting drug, reaching the brain within 15 seconds of being inhaled, but there is no evidence that nicotine causes any substantial risk for cancer, and the research shows that the risk for cardiovascular disease is minimal. In fact, for quite a few people, nicotine helps them focus and be more productive, overcoming attention-deficit-type problems and providing relief from stress, anxiety, or panic – which is why it is so addictive.
-
The Bad Bit
Smoking is the largest cause of preventable death in the world. The effects of smoking are serious; it can harm nearly every organ in your body. Almost everyone knows that smoking causes lung cancer but it also causes cancer of the nose, mouth, larynx (voice box), trachea, esophagus, stomach, pancreas, kidneys, bladder, cervix, bone marrow and blood. It can cause emphysema and heart disease. It can shorten your life by 10 years or more and it prematurely ages your skin and dulls your hair. When you smoke – the entire process from when you light up your cigarette to when you exhale – leads to several drastic and disastrous effects on the body. There are approximately 600 ingredients in a cigarette, mostly disgusting but benign things like tar. While these ingredients are approved as additives for foods and are not dangerous in themselves, they were not tested by burning and inhaling them. When burned, many of these substances change their properties, often for the worse, creating more than 7,000 chemicals including carbon monoxide, formaldehyde, ammonia, hydrogen cyanide, arsenic, and DDT. At least 69 of these chemicals are known to cause cancer and many are poisonous – which you then breathe directly into your lungs.
-
The Alternative Bit
E-cigs and Vaping devices do burn small amounts of chemicals, yes – but not nearly as many as a cigarette. It has now been shown that vaping is up to 95% – that’s 95% – less harmful to you. With a vaping device you can control the amount of nicotine you receive which means that you can get that addictive hit without having the harmful cocktail that goes with it and if your aim is to quit then you can slowly, at your own pace, lessen the nicotine dosage until you are just left with a refreshing flavour hit of your choice. Is it effortless on your part? Is anything? No, you have to want to quit, it has to be a conscious decision to treat your body better, but does it help? Well, that is up to you to decide – for me, it’s an overwhelming yes!
For more help and advice about using vaping to quit smoking visit one of our shops and speak to our trained and lovely staff or send us a message and we will be happy to assist you.
