We live in a world with new information swirling around us 24/7. There's always a news story that everyone's talking about or a viral video you have to see. But some topics get people more interested than others, and one of those topics is health.
Because vaping has become such a fast-growing activity, everyone wants to know if it's healthy. Is it really better than smoking or is it just as risky? What's the real truth?
Like most habits, vaping has both advantages and disadvantages for your health. Here are the health benefits of vaping as well as the risks you need to know about.
Despite all the rumors and questions, there are several ways vaping helps your health both in its own right and as an alternative to smoking.
One of the most important ways vaping can make you healthier is by helping you quit smoking. Tobacco's health risks are powerful and well-documented.
It puts you at risk for several types of cancer as well as high blood pressure, infections, respiratory illnesses, and more.
Most smokers have tried to quit at least a time or two but haven't been able to. Part of the reason is that smoking addiction has two components: the nicotine addiction and the habit itself.
Common tools to help people quit smoking like nicotine patches and nicotine gum only deal with nicotine addiction. The problem is that there is also a mental addiction to the habit of having a cigarette in your mouth.
Vaping, on the other hand, provides a step-down opportunity for both the nicotine and the habit. Vape juice comes with a variety of nicotine levels so you can use less and less nicotine over time. Vaping is also a similar physical action to smoking, especially if you use e-cigarettes, so it satisfies that urge.
Some smokers use vaping to try to stop using nicotine altogether. Others want to continue using nicotine but they want to get it from a healthier alternative to cigarettes.
As dangerous as smoking is for smokers, they aren't the only ones who suffer. Tobacco produces second-hand smoke that's harmful to everyone in the near vicinity.
Vaping, on the other hand, has less of a negative impact. Because there is no tobacco, the vapor that goes into the air when you vape doesn't have the high levels of cancer-causing chemicals that secondhand smoke does.
Of course, researchers are still studying the details of secondhand vape. In the meantime, it's still best not to vape in an enclosed area with kids.
It's common for people to gain weight when they stop smoking. One of the key reasons for this is because they have a mental addiction to the hand-to-mouth action of smoking. When they stop smoking, they appease that habit by eating.
For people who overeat on a regular basis, that hand-to-mouth habit can be just as strong as it is in smokers. In that way, satisfying that urge by vaping instead of snacking can help you curtail your overeating.
As an added bonus, vape juice comes in a wide range of flavors. Whether you're craving something salty or sweet, you can find a vape juice that satisfies your craving without the calories.
Most of the ways vaping benefits your health care by providing an alternative to more dangerous habits. However, vaping can even be another step forward for your health as a way to get helpful essential oils.
For instance, there are vape juices or e-liquids that contain CBD oil. CBD oil is known to provide health benefits like pain relief, stress and anxiety relief, sleep assistance, and lowered inflammation.
There are also other essential oils that can help your health in different ways. Some will lower your stress level while others may boost your immune system or give you energy. It's a matter of finding out which oils provide the benefits you want and buying vape juices that contain them.
When it comes to smoking, no one starts out smoking a pack of cigarettes every day. You build up a nicotine tolerance and dependence over time.
If you're trying to appease your habit for the physical act of smoking, you're getting a high level of nicotine in every cigarette whether you want it or not.
Vaping, on the other hand, gives you more control. You can buy vape juice with a range of nicotine levels. If you want to enjoy the habit of vaping more often without increasing your nicotine intake, you can do that by using lower nicotine concentrations.
If you're new to vaping, you may need to try different nicotine levels to see what works for you. Some vaping starter packs have e-juices with one nicotine level while others have a range. View more before you make your purchase.
Like most actions in our lives, there are positives and negatives to vaping. It's important to know the potential risks before you puff.
Vaping is healthier than smoking because it doesn't have high levels of cancer-causing chemicals that tobacco does. However, most vape juices have nicotine and nicotine itself has health risks.
The most prominent health risk you get from nicotine is that it raises your blood pressure. High blood pressure damages your blood vessels over time and puts you at risk for cardiovascular disease. That includes a risk for a heart attack or stroke.
You may have heard a lot about a condition called popcorn lung in the early 2000s. This is a condition that became common among people who worked in popcorn factories.
Popcorn lung is a lung condition that comes from repeatedly inhaling a chemical called diacetyl. Diacetyl creates a butter-like flavor, which is why it was so common in popcorn factories.
Some vape juices use diacetyl to create a buttery flavor. If you're using one of these vape juices, you're inhaling the same chemical that can lead to popcorn lung. You can eliminate this risk by avoiding vape juices that include diacetyl.
For healthy people, vaping appears to have little impact on respiratory health. For people who already have respiratory issues, though, it can be a different story.
Conditions like asthma, respiratory allergies, and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease or COPD can limit your breathing. Any time you inhale a foreign substance like pollution, smoke, or vapor, it can make the problem worse. Vaping and other inhaled substances can irritate or inflame your airways. That inflammation tightens your airway and makes breathing more difficult.
As we mentioned above, tobacco is loaded with a variety of known cancer-causing chemicals. Vaping appears to have a lower risk for cancer because you aren't inhaling those chemicals.
However, vaping is still new from a medical perspective. It takes time to truly know the risks of any habit or substance.
Some vape juices contain chemicals that may be dangerous. These can include formaldehyde, lead, and nitrosamines. There is a question over whether vapers inhale enough of these chemicals to see an impact on their health.
While the potential cancer risk is unclear, we do know that vaping delivers fewer cancerous chemicals than tobacco. While vape juices still have some of the chemicals that tobacco has, they have lower amounts of those chemicals.
As we mentioned above, nicotine has health risks and these risks are present in vape juices that contain nicotine. One of those risks is poor blood circulation.
Poor circulation can have a variety of consequences.
Your blood is the highway your body uses to deliver oxygen and nutrients to all your cells. If your cells don't get what they need, they don't function at their best. This makes you more likely to get infections and fight off illnesses.
This is particularly dangerous for people who have diabetes. Diabetes already compromises your blood circulation and your body's ability to heal. This is why people with diabetes are prone to severe infections, and vaping with nicotine makes the problem worse.
Depending on who you talk to, vaping is either the best thing or the worst thing in our modern era. Some people believe it's as dangerous as smoking while others think it's a cure-all for their health.
The truth is somewhere in between. There are health benefits of vaping as well as health risks. The key is to make smart juices with your vaping and to educate yourself about what you're putting into your body.
For more health tips, find out the real deal on other debated health topics like eggs and aspirin and read other articles on our health blog as well.
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