Vaping Health Studies and Research, Safety & Regulations
E-Cigarettes – 6 important things you should know
More people in England today are choosing to quit smoking by using an E-Cigarette to help them. But still, there’s a lot of sceptics and negative press about vaping, with people still hiding in fear behind the “we just don’t know yet” statement.
But there isn’t any reason that people should believe this as the evidence on the positive impact that e-cigarettes are having in helping people quit smoking is starting to build more and more with all the research being done. Most recently, the Cochrane living review of e-cigarettes being used for smoking cessation was released and it brings together the evidence to examine the effectiveness, tolerability and safety of e-cigarettes. And in this article, I’m going to pick out 6 things you should know about using e-cigarettes to give up smoking by using the evidence from the Cochrane review.
#1 Quitting cigarettes even will change your health as fast as within a couple of days
If you didn’t already know, smoking causes serious harm to your health, in a variety of different ways. Smoking seriously affects the respiratory system due to the carbon monoxide and tar that is created when a cigarette is lit. The carbon monoxide that’s created can affect your breathing, where as the tar will reside in the base of your lungs and cause you to cough and wheeze with the gradual build up.
When you quit smoking though, you won’t be ingesting these chemicals anymore and they will start to disperse from your body, almost instantly. Within a couple of days, the carbon monoxide levels in your body will drop and the oxygen levels in your body will regulate back to normal. After one month, you’ll find your breathing will start to go back to normal, and within nine months any coughs or wheezes you had will disappear as well. And the biggest thing is after one year of quitting, the risk of a heart attack will have halved when compared to someone who still smokes.
Your health should always be your priority and knowing that it will improve if you give up smoking, especially as quick as it’s described above, it should come as your next priority to give up the cigarettes!
#2 Quitting isn’t easy and will power alone doesn’t cut it!
Giving up smoking is one of the hardest things anyone can do, it’s been proven in studies. This is because people who smoke become addicted to nicotine, and nicotine is a highly addictive chemical. However, giving up smoking is something that can be done as long as you have the determination to want to do it! It will take a lot of will power, but also you’ll likely need a form of Nicotine Replacement Therapy to help you along the way so you don’t relapse or suffer any withdrawal symptoms from lack of nicotine. And using E-Cigarettes is arguably the best option to use to be successful in quitting.
It’s also perfectly normal for if you have to repeat the process to try and quit as most smokers report they didn’t succeed the first time of trying as there isn’t a “best first time method” that anyone has discovered as yet.
#3 E-Cigarettes are the most effective form of Nicotine Replacement Therapy
As I mentioned above, when you quit smoking it’s always recommended to use a form of Nicotine Replacement Therapy to help you along the way in your journey of quitting smoking. And studies have shown within this Cochrane report that e-cigarettes that contain nicotine is the most successful option for NRT.
E-Cigarettes are now the most popular option in England for Nicotine Replacement Therapy over original methods such as Nicotine patches or gum. They also provide a lot more longevity in use compared to other methods, with users reporting they are still using them up to 12 months on from quitting smoking.
#4 Misplaced fears about E-Cigarettes may be putting smokers off making the change
Regardless of all the evidence that is coming to light about the positive effects of using e-cigarettes over smoking actual cigarettes, there’s still a fair share of misinformation being printed in various outlets and it’s putting the fear factor in people that using e-cigarettes carries a lot of risks when in reality it really doesn’t.
In the past, there has been a couple of incidents relating to lung diseases and injuries that were caused by using e-cigarettes, and the media have clung on to these for dear life and consistently even today reference back to them, but do not give all the correct information related to these issues.
Vaping caused “popcorn lung” back in 2015, which was down to the fact that vape juice contained Diacetyl, a sweetner used to give a buttery taste to popcorn, and also constituted to making the flavour of a butter popcorn vape juice. As of 2016 when the TPD regulations came in, Diacetyl is no longer allowed to be included in vape juice by law, so people should be assured that this will not affect them.
In 2019-2021, there was an EVALI outbreak, which is a lung injury caused by vaping and it did result in some people losing their life from it. However, this disease was contracted by people who were using THC (cannabis) containing cartridges, which also had Vitamin E Acetate within the solution inside these cartridges and this was what was causing the problems.
So it wasn’t a traditional legal vape that was causing these injuries, so people who do use over the counter and legal e-cigarettes do not have to worry about contracting any disease like this. But the media do not publish all of these details and miss out key parts which in turn instils fear in to people about the “dangers of vaping and e-cigarettes.”
#5 You will get the support you need if you quit smoking
As I have mentioned, giving up smoking isn’t easy, but it’s made easier with the help of using E-Cigarettes. And what can also help is the support and help from a local stop smoking service. Stop smoking services offer one to one or group sessions where you can discuss how you are getting on with quitting smoking, ask any questions you may have, and interact with others who are on the journey to quit smoking as well. These services are all free and you should definitely look into the details of your local service and utilise what they can offer.
#6 Combustible cigarette use is reducing across the globe, and especially within the UK
The study looked at the statistics of the amount of smokers across the globe, and they discovered that the use of combustible cigarettes has dropped from 23% which was reported in 2015, to 17.5% as of 2021. This is great to see the number has dropped quite significantly across the globe, and they also highlighted that smoking prevalence in the UK was down to 14% ,the lowest it’s been for a long time.
Some countries around the world are aiming for a smoke free future, which means 5% or less of the countries population will be smokers and England are one of these countries with the goal hoping to be achieved by 2030.
