VAPING: THE NEXT HEALTH TIME BOMB
Vaping has been portrayed as a harmless alternative to cigarette smoking, but as I’ll explain, this could not be further from the truth.
However tough it is to quit, here at Total Body Health we can help:
- Ease the trauma of facing social situations without a vape in your hand
- Reduce your craving and reliance on vaping
- Replace vaping with healthier habits as part of a healthier lifestyle
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Often used by cigarette smokers who are trying to give up as a way to avoid going ‘cold turkey’ and gradually give up the habit, the NHS has even credited vaping with helping to achieve their smoke-free target for the UK by 2030. They have said that it carries ‘a small fraction of the risk of cigarettes’ because they don’t produce tar or carbon monoxide. Vaping is made attractive through fruity and minty flavours, increasingly enticing children and young adults to take up the habit. This is a health time bomb waiting to explode!
So, what’s the hidden truth about our new-found love of the e- cigarette?
American producer of vaping products, Juul Labs have effectively been fined $440m for the way in which it has targeted young people in its’ marketing. Their products have been found to be high in nicotine content, and addictive. This has led to a huge increase in teenage vaping. They have used cartoon advertising, young influencers, and social media advertising to grab their attention and get them hooked. They made false claims about its’ safety.
Indeed, many who start the ‘vaping’ habit just don’t understand how highly addictive and detrimental to your health it actually is. One of our clients who gave up cigarettes, realised that they had become addicted to vaping, and asked her pharmacist for something to help her give up. She was offered nicotine chewing gum and patches, which are used to help cigarette smokers give up, and told that the antidote to vaping had not been invented yet. Also, that all vaping products contained nicotine.
FACTS AND FIGURES
- 3m people in UK use e-cigarettes
- 9% of 11-15 year olds use e-cigarettes
- 21% of 15 year old girls and 14% of boys use them
- 3% of adults vape on a regular basis
- 4m vapers are ex smokers
- 350,000 vapers have never had a cigarette before starting vaping
The data shows that while cigarette smoking is in decline, vaping is on the rise – and there is no help / support for adolescents in particular who are now addicted.
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The tragedy of this is that so much effort was put into stopping smoking: taxes, health adverts, restrictions on packaging, warning signs on packets, and outlawing the habit in public buildings, transport etc. I remember the adverts that showed lungs being shrivelled up with each successive inhalation of tobacco smoke, the coughing, how it made your clothes and home smell…how it made you unattractive to potential partners.
However, what is not made clear is that vaping and e-cigarettes can:
- Still shrivel up your lungs
- Impair your respiratory system
- Have no health benefits, irrespective of taste or smell
- Contain a multitude of harmful chemicals which were never designed for human consumption.
WE SHOULD LEARN FROM THE PAST
In 1962, 70% of men and 40% of women in the UK smoked. Prior to this, doctors were even used in cigarette advertising, e.g. ‘Doctors Prefer Camels’ (a popular brand of cigarette), they even recommended it! They were seen to be glamorous, and many were led to believe it helped with stress, anxiety and weight loss. They also provided a huge amount of tax revenue for governments.
In the mid-sixties in the US, it was made clear by the Surgeon General that smoking caused lung cancer, cancer of the throat, and bronchitis. The smoking ban in the UK however did not come into effect until 2007
It is clear that unless action is taken, the mistakes of the past will be repeated. More needs to be done to educate everyone about the potential hazards and risks of vaping which also contains nicotine, and is addictive.
At Total Body Health, we offer a package of treatments and 1:1 support for addiction. Please call 020 8090 0995 or email Tony Courtney Brown on info@total-body-health.com. For more information on addictions, click here:
Call us now for a free 10 minute consultation