If You Must Vape, Stick With These Guidelines

Depending on who you ask, vaping tends to have a controversial reputation. Vape devices are known to pose severe yet avoidable health risks. Their widespread unpopularity is also attributed to their impact on youth and combatting a long strived for the decline in the numbers of adolescents suffering from tobacco addiction.

A report from News in Health demonstrates that vaping is encouraging teens to use nicotine as opposed to supporting and working against it.

Why Are People Vaping

Vaping first appeared on the scene as a progressive alternative to smoking cigarettes. The first electronic cigarette was invented to produce the first smokeless non-tobacco cigarette.

A CDC report in 2018 reported that cigarette smoking rates were among the lowest in history since 1965. However, vaping rates, especially among children and teens, have been reported as high as 66%.

Enticing flavors and the same societal allure of smoking keep the vaping trend alive. However, nicotine is hardly the only concern.

The Concern with Vaping

Vaping e-cigarettes is problematic for lung health in many ways. Besides the continued and merely reduced exposure to nicotine, most e-cigarettes do not produce vapor. They instead produce an aerosol substance that can often contain metals and other traces of material that become inhaled and released once the device is heated.

While e-cigarettes have their challenges, the number of teens who are smoking marijuana through vapes have doubled. Vaping-related lung illness is on the rise.

Most teens who engage in smoking marijuana with a vape do not have access to legal, tested, and medicinal products that would be safe for a person of age. They are purchasing unsafe, toxic, illegal black market products that can contain chemicals.

If You Must Vape

Vaping is not recommended, but if you choose to vape, follow these guidelines for the safest way possible.

• Take time to inspect your products and understand what you are introducing into your body.
• Make sure that your battery and smoking device work properly.
• Opt for a product with a heat temperature control option, but ensure that it is not easily adjusted in your pocket or with movement.
• Make sure products are reputable, tested, and marked accordingly.
• Be careful not to expose skin to vape fluid.
• Know your limits, test products before using them regularly.
• Test products for the first time in a safe environment where you have access to medical assistance if necessary.

Vaping has not been extensively studied over time, and as new concepts continue to emerge, it has been cautioned as a threat to lung health. However, numbers of those still vaping continue to rise. Perhaps reasonable guidelines are necessary to prevent further illness and deaths.