Smoking is a major cause of heart disease. It causes around 20% of total deaths linked with cardiovascular disease.
Exposure to second-hand smoke can lead to serious conditions such as stroke and heart disease. Quitting this habit can save people from developing the associated diseases and death.
In comparison to smoking, vaping is less harmful. As a matter of fact, it is considered to be one of the most effective tools for quitting smoking.
However, vaping is not completely harmless. Continue reading below to find out whether vaping is better than smoking when it comes to your health.
How Does Vaping Work?
Vaping closely simulates traditional cigarette smoking. To produce the vapor that is inhaled, battery-powered vape devices create a water vapor-like aerosol by heating an e-liquid solution. In general, the vapor contains a long list of chemicals, flavourings, and nicotine. As the aerosol makes its way into the lungs after inhalation, its components cross through into the bloodstream.
To help users manage their nicotine intake, depending on their needs, e-liquids contain varying amounts of nicotine. This way, individuals can get the “hit” they need to manage their cravings.
For many years, nicotine has been used in medications to help smokers quit smoking. The substance is not considered to be harmful.
Many of today’s vape devices look like USB pods, unlike earlier models which were designed to resemble traditional tobacco cigarettes.
Is Vaping Harmful?
Vaping is considered to be significantly less harmful than tobacco smoking. Overall, vaping exposes individuals to fewer chemicals and toxins, at much lower levels, than smoking. Cigarette smoke contains thousands of chemicals. Many of these chemicals are toxic – with around 70 of them having been identified as cancer-causing agents. The most dangerous chemicals in tobacco cigarette smoke include carbon monoxide and tar.
You can reduce your exposure to harmful chemicals and toxins that have been linked with heart disease, cancer, lung disease, and stroke by simply switching from smoking to vaping. All of these conditions are not caused by nicotine – which is the main active ingredient in e-liquids.
With that said, it is still worth noting that while vaping is seen as less harmful than smoking, it is still not risk-free. Young people and non-smokers are discouraged from taking up vaping.
Side Effects of Vaping
Vaping has been linked with several short-term side effects. They include:
• Headaches
• Shortness of breath
• Irritation of the throat and mouth
• Throat and mouth dryness
• Coughing
If you encounter any of these side effects when using a vape device to stop smoking, it is recommended that you contact a specialist vape seller or a stop-smoking adviser before you stop using the device altogether. These side effects can be easily managed with small changes to your vaping patterns and/or vape products according to Urban Vape.
Since vaping is relatively new, its long-term effects are unknown. Users should be aware of the fact that vaping is not totally harmless. As such, smokers who choose to use vaping as a way of quitting smoking should also plan to stop vaping with time.
Vaping to Quit Smoking
An analysis of numerous studies found that when it comes to helping smokers quit smoking, vaping was more effective than other available alternatives.
It can be very hard to stop smoking. However, vaping can be used to break the rituals and routines of smoking. This can go a long way towards helping cigarette smokers avoid the health risks of smoking.
Vaping helps smokers overcome their habit in two main ways.
• For starters, vaping is very similar to smoking in that it maintains the hand-to-mouth action that smokers are accustomed to.
• Secondly, when you inhale the vapor, you get a throat “hit” very similar to cigarette smoking.
To boost your chances of successfully switching from smoking to vaping, it is recommended that you use vaping as much as possible to manage your cravings. Vaping is less harmful than smoking. As such, you shouldn’t worry about vaping more than you used to smoke. Just make sure that you start with a nicotine level that matches your current smoking habits.
Vaping During Pregnancy
As a rule of thumb, you should completely avoid smoking around pregnant women or when pregnant.
Carbon monoxide is very harmful to unborn babies. Unlike tobacco cigarettes, vaping is free of carbon monoxide. As such, vaping is likely to be less harmful to a mother and their unborn baby than smoking. However, it is important to note that the research on the safety of vaping during pregnancy is very limited.
If you want to stay smoke-free during pregnancy, vaping can help – especially if you are trying to use vaping to quit smoking. However, the recommended option is authorized nicotine replacement therapy products like gum and patches.
Vaping Around Other People
It is important to be thoughtful when vaping around other people.
Second-hand cigarette smoke can have serious health effects. However, there is little evidence suggesting that vaping can be harmful to people around you. Furthermore, any effects are likely to be less pronounced.
With that said, you should avoid vaping around people suffering from respiratory conditions (like asthma) and young children.
Smoking has been linked to a variety of serious health conditions including cancer and cardiovascular disease. The sooner you quit smoking the faster your body can start healing itself. Vaping is considered to be less harmful than smoking. It can also be used to effectively quit smoking.
