Vaping FAQs

how vaping affects your mental health

by Danyka Goodwin Published 2 years ago Updated 1 year ago
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Though nicotine has not been found to directly cause mental health conditions, peer-reviewed studies reveal troubling links between vaping, nicotine, and worsening symptoms of depression and anxiety, as well as higher odds of having a depression diagnosis.

Full Answer

What are the negative health effects of vaping?

The short-term side effects of using nicotine vapes are usually:

  • Lingering aftertaste
  • Light-headedness
  • Sweating
  • Headache
  • Nausea and vomiting
  • High blood pressure
  • Increased heart rate

What are the dangers of vaping?

The interchangeable use of smoking and vaping is most common in people under age 35. They face equal risk of heart attack or stroke than if they lit up exclusively. The takeaway is that there is no ‘best’ method of inhaling nicotine.

Is vaping really that harmful?

Studies suggest nicotine vaping may be less harmful than traditional cigarettes when people who regularly smoke switch to them as a complete replacement. But nicotine vaping could still damage your health.

What are the health issues of vaping?

Vaping comes with its own consequences and other inflammatory problems in the lungs that are different than smoking, but it's still nicotine and still bad for your health. For more information about how vaping could affect your health, check out the CDC's ...

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Does vaping affect your thinking?

Both adults and kids who vape were more likely to report difficulty concentrating, remembering, or making decisions than their non-vaping, non-smoking peers. It also appeared that kids were more likely to experience mental fog if they started vaping before the age of 14.

Is quitting vaping good for mental health?

Quitting vaping, in the long-term, improves mental health According to Truth Initiative's continuous tracking survey, 47% of young people who quit vaping feel more in control than when they were vaping, and 90% feel less stressed, anxious or depressed.

Is vaping worse than smoking?

1: Vaping is less harmful than smoking, but it's still not safe. E-cigarettes heat nicotine (extracted from tobacco), flavorings and other chemicals to create an aerosol that you inhale. Regular tobacco cigarettes contain 7,000 chemicals, many of which are toxic.

Is vaping making me depressed?

Can vaping cause depression and anxiety? According to a 2019 JAMA study of nearly 30,000 current e-cigarette users above age 18, frequent vaping is tied to even higher odds – 2.4X – of having a diagnosis of depression compared to never users.

What are the benefits of quitting vaping?

Some of the major benefits you will experience when you quit vaping include improved heart health, reduced risk of lung disease and injury, and a reduced risk for periodontal disease.

How long after quitting vaping does anxiety go away?

Studies have found that anxiety is one of the most common negative feelings associated with quitting. If anxiety occurs, it usually builds over the first 3 days after quitting and may last several weeks (1).

How long after quitting vaping will I feel better?

Within the first 1 to 9 months after quitting vaping, the lung's capacity to clear out mucus and fight off infections significantly increases. This event is even more noticeable than the early signs of increased lung capacity most people will feel shortly after they quit vaping.

What happens if you stop vaping?

When you go without vaping, the nicotine level in your bloodstream drops, which may cause unpleasant feelings, physical symptoms, and strong urges to vape. This is nicotine addiction.

Can vaping cause depression and anxiety?

According to a 2019 JAMA study of nearly 30,000 current e-cigarette users above age 18, frequent vaping is tied to even higher odds – 2.4X – of ha...

Does vaping make you depressed?

Based on the results of a 2017 study of nearly 2,500 ninth graders who had never previously used e-cigarettes or combustible tobacco in Los Angeles...

Does vaping cause ADHD?

A 2019 study of U.S. college students found that vaping is significantly associated with higher levels of ADHD symptoms , and nicotine dependence...

Do e-cigarettes cause depressive symptoms?

Based on the results of a 2017 study of nearly 2,500 ninth graders who had never previously used e-cigarettes or combustible tobacco in Los Angeles, those who used e-cigarettes at a higher frequency were associated with higher depressive symptoms. This also included feeling sad or having crying spells – a year later.

Does vaping cause anxiety?

college students found that vaping is significantly associated with higher levels of ADHD symptoms, and nicotine dependence was correlated with greater anxiety symptoms.

What is the psychoactive substance in vaping fluids?

The aerosols may contain various additives, flavours, nicotine and other drugs such as cannabis. Nicotine is the psychoactive substance contained in almost all fluids vaped in Canada (Statistics Canada, 2020a) and is the focus of this commentary. Vaping devices are sometimes called “e-cigarettes” since early devices resembled cigarettes.

What is vaping in Canada?

Abstract. “Vaping” refers to the inhalation of aerosols produced in devices that heat liquid solutions. The aerosols may contain various additives, flavours, nicotine and other drugs such as cannabis. Nicotine is the most common psychoactive substance in vaping devices (or e-cigarettes) in Canada. While vaping has been viewed primarily as ...

Is nicotine a psychoactive substance?

Nicotine is the most common psychoactive substance in vaping devices (or e-cigarettes) in Canada. While vaping has been viewed primarily as a cessation method or harm reduction strategy for smokers of combustible tobacco cigarettes, a new pattern is becoming evident in adolescents and youth (age 15–24) in Canada.

Is vaping a mental health issue?

Mental health concerns related to vaping (other than addiction) have been generally neglected. This is perhaps not surprising when one considers that strong evidence of adverse mental health effects of combustible tobacco smoking have also been neglected (Williams & Ziedonis, 2004).

Is vaping bad for mental health?

The mental health implications of vaping are largely unknown but available data suggest that vaping is associated with mental health changes similar to those seen with combustible tobacco cigarettes. Understanding the mental health impact of “vaping” will be challenging and research is needed.

Does vaping affect the brain?

An important concern is that some vaping devices may deliver higher concentrations of nicotine than do combustible tobacco cigarettes, with unknown effects on the developing brain. Accumulating evidence suggests similar associations of vaping and smoking with indicators of negative mental health.

Is smoking a determinant of mental health?

Historically, the slow emergence of awareness of smoking as a strong determinant of mental health should motivate additional caution and a greater research focus on the mental health effects of vaping, especially among adolescents and young adults. Acknowledgements.

What are the dangers of vaping?

Heavy metals: many vapes and e-cigs can contain nickel, tin and lead, which pose serious health risks when ingested.

What are the chemicals in vapes?

Volatile organic and non-organic compounds: these are found in items like rat poison, car exhaust, antifreeze, and chemicals used to preserve dead tissue (arsenic, benzene, glycol and formaldehyde). Heavy metals: many vapes and e-cigs can contain nickel, tin and lead, which pose serious health risks when ingested.

What is an e-cigarette?

E-cigarettes are electronic nicotine delivery systems (ENDS), also referred to as vapes, vape pens, e-pens, and e-cigs. They consist of three parts: a rechargeable battery, and the pre-filled or refillable cartridge and a heating element.

What happens when water vapor is heated into an aerosol?

When the liquid cartridges of “harmless water vapor” are heated into an aerosol, some of the non-dangerous components (like propylene glycol) go through a chemical change and become dangerous to ingest (like formaldehyde gas).

How many e-cigarettes contain nicotine?

Nicotine: 99.6% of e-cigarette products contain nicotine, and even products listed as “nicotine-free” may still contain nicotine as the FDA does not regulate them.

Is vaping dangerous for young adults?

This means increased nicotine use may make it harder for young adults to concentrate, learn, and control impulses. Review the dangers of vaping with nicotine and any additional dangers of vaping, regardless of whether nicotine is present.

How many Minnesota students are unaware of the dangers of using e-cigarettes?

76% of Minnesota students were unaware of the health risks of using e-cigarettes. It’s time to have a conversation, but it’s important to do so without criticism or harsh lecturing. With the right resources, you can provide answers in a positive way and work together to build awareness and promote a change.

What is the connection between vaping and mental health?

Vaping and mental health: What’s the connection? Vaping devices, also known as e- cigarettes, e-hookahs, mods, vape pens, vapes, tank systems, and electronic nicotine delivery systems, are used to inhale aerosols. Some e-cigarettes look like regular cigarettes, pipes, pens, or USB drives.

Why are e-cigarettes harmful?

Some of the flavors used may be harmful when heated and inhaled in form of aerosol. Social or peer pressure has been reported as one of the most common reasons for increased use by adolescents.

How does nicotine affect the health of a smoker?

Like with any addiction, nicotine affects the physical and mental health of smokers. The impact on mental health has been overshadowed by the concerns about physical health. Contrary to popular belief, nicotine content in some vaping devices is much higher than combustible cigarettes.

What does an e-cigarette look like?

Some e-cigarettes look like regular cigarettes, pipes, pens, or USB drives. It contains a heating element to vaporize a liquid that can include flavor compounds, nicotine, or cannabis-derived compounds such as tetrahydrocannabidiol (THC) and cannabidiol (CBD).

Does Juul pod contain nicotine?

Some nicotine pods like the Juul pod contain as much nicotine as one pack of cigarettes. Researchers have studied several mental health issues associated with vaping in adolescents and young adults. Dependence on nicotine has been associated with impulsivity, mood disorders, anxiety, suicidality and depression.

Is vaping bad for you?

Vaping is often used as a cop ing strategy by individuals suffering from depression, anxiety or other mental health conditions.

Does nicotine cause depression?

Nicotine interrupts the cerebral dopamine pathway leading to an increase in depressive symptoms. Nicotine also increases sensitivity to stress, and alters the coping mechanism in the brain. These changes lead to an increased dose-response relationship – meaning an increase in symptoms with increased exposure to nicotine.

What is the most common mental illness associated with vaping?

Anxiety is the most common mental health illness associated with vaping and smoking. The most common form of anxiety (panic disorder) can easily be associated with vaping, the majority of the time this is felt through the side effects that vaping can bring.

What to do when you're vaping with a mental illness?

When you’re vaping with a Mental Health Condition, the best thing you can do is fully understand the process, fully understand exactly what you will be doing; this will give you peace of mind when vaping which is the most important thing to living with a Mental Health Condition.

Why does vaping make my heart beat faster?

Sometimes this happens due to the effects that vaping has on your throat, lungs, and heart. It’s common for your heart to start beating faster/slower after pulling on your vaporizer. This could be seen as a danger to someone with anxiety, so they start getting scared. It’s also quite common for vaping to cause loss of breath or tight lungs, something else that could trigger an anxiety attack.

What happens if you don't get enough nicotine?

You know that you have an addiction, and if you don’t get enough nicotine, you’ll start feeling angry, upset, or simply lazy. You realize that you can’t vape as much as you normally do this week, so you set yourself milestones and limits to the amount you can vape per day. You could even purchase higher nicotine juices to help reduce your vape amount.

Why did vaping start?

When vaping first started appearing because of the included nicotine, many people saw the opportunity to use it as a substitute for the Cigarette; After years and years of negativity surrounding smoking, there couldn’t possibly be anything worse? So they took the opportunity and quit.

What happens if you have a mental health problem?

When it comes down to it, the majority of the time, if your Mental Health Condition starts to become a problem or occur, there will more than likely be a trigger or a prompt that has brought it up. If you have depression and you see something that makes you upset you will start getting depressed. If you have Anxiety and you start worrying about something, you could start having a panic attack. If you have PTSD and you remember something traumatic you could have flashbacks leading to the stress-induced attack.

Why is mental health so hard to cover?

Mental health is such a huge subject and is quite a hard topic to cover because people react to things differently in their own mind.

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