Vaping makes me feel like an old person, because when I was a teenager or even as a young adult, vaping didn’t exist back then. But today, it is common knowledge and I see a lot of young people getting into vaping, seemingly like it is the cool thing to be doing. Vapes also are designed to be appealing with their fruity flavours and colourful packaging, but also they seem to not have a distinct and lingering odour like cigarette smoking.
From what I’ve learned about vaping over the years is that it can be more dangerous and addictive than cigarette smoking.
Vaping is the use of electronic cigarettes which are battery powered devices that heats up a liquid to make a vapor that you breathe in. Vaping liquids contain harmful chemicals including nicotine, heavy metals and microplastics. Research has shown that vaping is the same as breathing in harmful chemicals found in cleaning products, nail polish remover, weed killer and bug spray.
These harmful chemicals can increase the risk of lung disease, heart disease and cancer. Vaping has shown to be harmful to the health of your body and mouth. It can cause dry mouth, a burning feeling, mouth irritation, bad taste, bad breath, pain, gum disease and changes to the soft tissues of your tongue and your mouth.
A common myth about vaping is that it is safer because there are nicotine free vapes. However it has been shown that liquids claiming to be nicotine free can still contain nicotine. Research tested 10 vapid liquids labelled “nicotine free’ found that nicotine was present in six of the e-liquids.
The nicotine in 1 vape can equal 50 cigarettes and is addictive and can damage the developing brain. Nicotine changes the way synapses are formed in young people, and this can harm your ability to pay attention, learn and also affect your mood and memory.
There is evidence that 80% of vapers will switch to cigarette smoking, which is why quitting vaping early is important. Vaping simply cannot be good for you because your body, mouth, lungs and nose was designed by nature to breathe in air. So if you’re not breathing clean air, what harm can you be causing yourself?