Have you heard about e-cigarettes? Perhaps you might have seen them at your local corner shop – small, hand-held devices that look more like colorful pens than a smoking device. Today, you can see more and more people smoking e-cigarettes than paper-rolled traditional ones. Commonly sold as e-cigs, vape pens, or, vaporizer cigarettes, e-cigarettes is another way of taking in nicotine.
E-cigarettes are battery-powered smoking devices which use liquid-filled cartridges containing nicotine, flavorings, and, other chemicals. You can get it in almost any flavor you can think of – apple, cinnamon, orange, peppermint, name it, and you can get it. Unlike the traditional cigarettes, there’s no smoke or burning of tobacco involved here. But the risks involved with vaping or smoking an e-cig by e-cigarrette club is potentially as dangerous as smoking a traditional cigarette. The nicotine content in an e-cigarette ranges from ‘zero’ to ‘extra-high.’
Are there are any health risks involved smoking an e-cigarette?
- An unhealthy dose of nicotine gets absorbed by our body through our lungs. It increases our blood pressure and results in abnormal heart rate. When absorbed in large doses, nicotine presents a higher risk of heart failure.
- Nicotine is an addictive drug. Whether you smoke a traditional or an e-cigarette, you are more prone to become addicted to it. After the first effect of vaping goes away, your body is more prone to crave for nicotine and experience withdrawal symptoms which might be fatigue, nausea, and in more severe cases, depression.
- It’s a known fact that e-cigarettes contain a chemical called diacetyl linked to a lung disease called “popcorn lungs.” It’s a condition that damages your lungs’ smallest airways and makes you cough and feel breathless.
- Nicotine is dangerous for pregnant women. It is very toxic to developing fetuses and put up massive risk for fetal growth and safety.
- Young adults are also at risk from e-cigarette smoking. High doses of nicotine absorption can result in damage to adolescent brain development.
