Featured Image Credit: Martina Paraninfi / Peter Dazeley / Getty
As vaping has become a big trend among young people, health experts are warning about its impact on our physical health.
As you inhale through the mouthpiece, the liquid from the pod is drawn out, heated by the element, and turned into vapour, which is then inhaled like cigarette smoke.
Over 200 chemicals in the vape enter your mouth, throat, and lungs, irritating them and often causing a dry throat and cough.
The ultrafine particles within the vapour can damage the lungs and the sweet flavourings and oils have been linked to certain lung diseases.
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And with fewer regulations surrounding disposable vapes, some variants, like those on the black market, some devices can contain poisonous chemicals and harmful metals making them even more dangerous.
But not much is known about what happens in our brains when we regularly take a puff of berry-flavoured air.
Well thanks to an eye-opening black-and-white YouTube video by Addiction Policy Forum, we now know.
The video highlights that since our brains haven't fully developed until our mid-20s, "using nicotine while it's still developing can disturb this process and increase our risk for addiction and mental health issues later in life."
It continued: "This is because nicotine affects synapse formation and the parts of the brain that control attention and learning which can lead to memory issues, mood disorders and lower impulse control permanently."
Children who use e-cigarettes in mid- and high school are 'more likely' to use cigarettes and experiment with other drugs in the future.
Not only that but young people who regularly vape are 'four times more likely' to go on and smoke cigarettes than those who don't.
E-cigarettes contain a lot more nicotine than normal cigarettes. In fact, a jewel pod, or disposable vape, is 'equivalent to twenty cigarettes' greatly increasing the likelihood of dependence.
Even though there aren't many long-term effects on vaping, headline horror stories and personal user experiences are beginning to show the risks of regular use, especially among young people.
The Center for Disease Control (CDC) emphasised that with nicotine also being a highly addictive substance, quitting vaping can cause people to crave nicotine along with a number of other withdrawal effects. These can include irritability, restlessness, trouble sleeping and concentrating, increased appetite and mood fluctuations.
In 2019, the CDC reported 68 deaths in the US due to vaping-related lung injuries (EVALI), which were linked to Vitamin E acetate in some e-liquids that severely damaged the lungs.
