Despite mounting research that vaping is highly addictive and harmful, vapes continue to be a popular accessory on teens.
According to the 2021 National Youth Tobacco Survey, more than 2 million U.S. middle and high school students reported using e-cigarettes in 2021, with more than 8 in 10 of them using vapes.
When a sample of Boone County High School students were surveyed, 6% said they vape, and 58% said they had a friend at Boone who vapes.
Vapes are dangerously efficient at developing nicotine addiction
Vaping is the process of inhaling and exhaling a vapor from a device called an e-cigarette. This vapor can contain many different substances, one of the most popular being nicotine.
Nicotine is known to be an addictive substance that is a stimulant drug. Using nicotine can harm the development of the brain, especially in adolescents whose brains don’t fully develop till age 25 according to the Centers for Disease Control (CDC).
Using nicotine over time will lead to addiction which one can show signs within days of first using nicotine.
Nicotine releases a chemical into the brain that then causes one’s mood to alter to a relaxed state to temporarily make them feel good.
After inhaling, the vapor then delivers nicotine to the brain within 20 seconds allowing for it to be a lot easier to get addicted compared to other substances like alcohol, according to the Center for Addiction and Mental Health,
By frequently vaping the nicotine will stimulate parts of the brain repeatedly allowing for the brain to get used to the feeling of it. Over time, the nicotine will have a negative effect on the brain, tricking it into thinking it needs more and more.
According to the CDC, when nicotine hits the brain it can harm the parts that control attention, mood, and learning.
Nicotine can also change the way synapses are formed. Synapses are a place in the brain where two neurons connect and communicate with each other.
Once people stop vaping, the nicotine levels in their blood will drop, leaving them with withdrawal symptoms: nicotine cravings, bad moods, and struggles with concentration.
As with additions, the first “hook” may be with nicotine, but craving and desire may grow to more dangerous substances like THC and the interest to explore other types of drugs.
These symptoms along with many others will be the strongest after 2-3 days without nicotine. However, people can’t die from nicotine withdrawal.
Many people also don’t realize that almost all vapes contain nicotine.
A CDC study found that 99% of all vapes contain nicotine, even those claiming they don’t. In a 2019 study in Pediatrics, 40% of the survey participants who thought they were using nicotine-free products showed high levels of cotinine (a product found in tobacco that is the main substance of nicotine) in their systems.
Vapes are harmful for athletes
In addition to the effect on overall health, vaping is detrimental to physical performance for athletes or individuals who wish to have a job that requires physical exertion.
According to an article in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine, a 2018 analysis of data collected from US Soldiers showed that vape users ran 2 miles 27 seconds slower than nonsmokers and performed fewer sit-ups and push-ups as well.
According to Lieutenant Colonel Mark Newdigate of the U.S. Army Raleigh Recruiting Battalion, one of the biggest challenges in recruiting in today’s Army is the number of qualified individuals that can uphold the physical fitness requirements. Newdigate also noted that individuals are disqualified because they have vaped substances that they weren’t aware were problematic such as THC, the substance in marijuana that gets users high.
A common misconception with vaping is that it is safe because it is better than smoking cigarettes. A cigarette when burned can create more than 7,000 chemicals compared to a vape which contains 2,000.
However, just because vaping is less harmful than smoking it does not make it safe.
There are still 2,000 chemicals in vapes, many of which doctors haven’t even identified the potential harms of yet.
How vapes get popular
Vaping became popular when cigarette companies had to state the dangers of their products, and places started banning indoor smoking.
In the 1960s, laws were passed that made sure the dangers of cigarette smoking were clearly stated on labels of products, and programs were developed to teach students in schools about nicotine addiction, lung and heart damage and even cancer caused by smoking.
Over the following decades youth smoking declined, state laws banned smoking indoors, and the companies that manufactured tobacco products were forced to pivot the ways they advertised and made money. One of the ways was the development of the e-cigarette which entered the US market by mid-2000s after being introduced by Chinese backed company Ruyan.
Ruyan gained a U.S. patent for its product with the applications stating that the product is “an electric atomization cigarette that functions as substitutes for quitting smoking and cigarette substitutions.” Individuals who were cigarette smokers began trying e-cigarettes as an alternative under the idea that they were “healthier” or would lead to a reduced dependence on nicotine.
With the ban on traditional smoking indoors, e-cigarettes allowed for nicotine to be consumed more discreetly with more appealing smells that mask the plumes of smoke. Unlike cigarettes which require combustion, e-cigarettes put off a vapor.
E-cigarette and related suppliers found a means to profitability by marketing a “safer” means to consume an addictable drug. With social media and the reach of influencers, companies could circumvent some of the rules and regulations of traditional marketing.
Tobacco companies have a long history of adapting their advertising from the days of the popularity of the American cowboy and rugged Marlboro Man to capturing younger generations through the cartoon character, Joe Camel, in the 1990s. Companies hoped the earlier they could attract people to their product, the more profits they would achieve over a person’s lifetime.
Many of the long term effects of vaping are still unknown, but studies suggest that vapes show signs of dangerous and harmful chemicals that are not good for the body and are especially harmful in the development of adolescents.
