What Are E-cigarettes (Vaping)?

Table of Content

• What Are E-cigarettes?

• What Is Vaping?

• Difference Between Vaping And Smoking Cigarettes

• Benefits of Vaping

• Side Effects of E-cigarettes

• Reasons To Avoid E-Cigarettes

• Take Home Points

• FAQ on What Are E-cigarettes (Vaping)?

Introduction

Due to the various side effects caused by regular smoking, many people shifted to vaping. Many sellers advertised how vaping can reduce the addiction to smoking. So, is vaping all good? Doesn't vaping cause damage to our health? And how is vaping different from smoking? 

Find all the answers to your questions in this article. Here, you can learn about smoking vs vaping, the benefits of vaping, the side effects of vaping and also a few evidence-based reasons to avoid e-cigarettes. 

What Are E-cigarettes?

E-cigarettes are also called e-hookahs, vapes, vape pens and vaporizer cigarettes. These devices look like a pen, pipes or even USB drives. They come in all designs filled with aerosols that can have various flavours like mint, mango, cucumber and so on. 

What Is Vaping?

The vape pens are equipped with the following parts, 

• Mouthpiece: This is a cartridge at the end of the e-pen which is layered with absorbent material. 

• Atomizer: This heats the liquid which creates the vapours to inhale. 

• Battery: Batteries are used for powering the atomiser. 

• Sensor: It senses when a user sucks the devices and activates the heater for producing aerosols. 

• Solution: E-liquid or e-juice, containing a combination of nicotine, flavourings and many other chemicals. The vape juice can have zero to 'very high' nicotine levels.

When the user sucks on the mouthpiece, the sensor activates the heating element, thereby producing vapours. 

Difference Between Vaping And Smoking Cigarettes

In both vaping and smoking, you inhale nicotine and other chemical substances into your lungs. The only difference is smoking involves burning tobacco (producing smoke) while vaping involves heating e-liquid (vape juice) producing aerosols.

Benefits of Vaping

You may have heard that e-cigarettes help you in getting over the addiction to regular cigarettes - but the sad part is, instead of getting over your addiction to cigarettes, you can still end up addicted to vapes. So, unfortunately, the claims about vaping helping in quitting smoking may not be as effective as shown. 

Also, the aerosols you inhale through the vapes are equally harmful as the smoke that comes from regular cigarettes. You would still be inhaling nicotine and various other chemicals in vape juices.  

Vapes are also known for causing life-threatening long injuries like EVALI (e-cigarette, or vaping, product use associated with lung injury) where you get flu-like symptoms like chest pain, coughing and shortness of breath. EVALI can be fatal if left untreated. 

Side Effects of E-cigarettes

Just like smoking has its consequences, vaping also comes with its baggage. Here are the long-term side effects of vaping,

• Lung damages

• Asthma

• Coughing

• Shortness of breath

• Eye irritation

• Headaches

• Dry and irritated mouth and throat

• Nausea

• Increased risk of cancers 

• Weakened immune system 

• Delayed brain development in fetuses, children and teenagers

Reasons To Avoid E-Cigarettes

Here are the reasons why you should completely refrain from vaping or inhaling e-cigarettes. 

They Also Contain Nicotine

Nicotine is a substance that can cause serious damage to the fetus in the womb, affects brain development in young people and also can cause serious addiction issues. Regular cigarettes are usually criticised for their nicotine content but we shouldn't forget that vape pens aren't any different. They also contain nicotine which means they can also cause all the negative consequences on health caused by normal cigarettes. 

They Contain Carcinogens

Traditional cigarettes produce several carcinogens and toxic substances beyond nicotine that can cause cancer and various other health issues. Sadly, all these are present in e-cigarettes too. Some of the notable ones are acetaldehyde, formaldehyde, acrolein, benzene, diacetyl, propylene glycol, lead and cadmium. 

Reduces Actual Efforts For Quitting Smoking

Switching to e-cigarettes for quitting regular cigarettes may undermine other serious efforts to quit smoking - just because vaping is as addictive as smoking. Vaping can delay or even prevent a person from quitting smoking completely. 

They Are the Same As Smoking 

Though the process of smoking and vaping are different, they aren't much different from regular cigarettes. They also produce nicotine and many other toxic chemicals. 

They Encourage Teen Smoking 

Having a range of flavours in vape juices may tempt teens to smoke. In their later stages of life, this may increase their chances of experimenting with various vape pens and regular cigarettes, thereby getting addicted to them. 

They Can Cause Brain Damage

Vaping can cause serious consequences on brain health, especially in young people. This is because the nicotine in e-cigarettes can cause serious addiction and make a person vulnerable to other dangerous drugs like cocaine. 

Other than this, nicotine also negatively affects the learning ability of the brain and increases the risk of developing mood or neurological disorders.

Take Home Points

• E-cigarettes, just like regular cigarettes are still dangerous to health though it is claimed to have helped people quit smoking. 

• E-cigarettes are still nicotine-based products and can cause addiction just like regular cigarettes. 

• Children, pregnant women and teens should completely avoid vaping as it can pose various health risks.