How Does Vaping Work?
Vaping imitates the act of smoking by utilizing battery-powered devices that produce an aerosol resembling water vapor. However, this aerosol contains not only nicotine but also flavorings and over 30 additional chemicals. When inhaled, the aerosol enters the lungs, allowing the nicotine and chemicals to enter the bloodstream. A single vape pod contains the same amount of addictive nicotine as 20 cigarettes. Vaping conditions the brain to anticipate higher nicotine levels, leading to a stronger desire to vape.[1]
Initially, vape devices resembled traditional cigarettes, but more recent models have taken on different forms, such as resembling a USB flash drive or a compact pod. Vaping devices vary in their appearances, yet they share fundamental components, including a battery, sensor and atomizer/flavor cartridge.[2]
Targeted Age Group
As numbers for cigarette smoking have been on the decline for the past year, the popularity of vapes, a type of e-cigarette, has exploded in the United States, especially in younger generations. Johns Hopkins Medicine conveyed that over two million middle and high school students admitted to the use of vapes in 2022, with 80% of them using flavored e-cigarettes.[3] The Texas Health and Human Services notes that the teenage brain is particularly vulnerable to the impact of nicotine, making it more challenging to quit vaping and raising the likelihood of teens transitioning to smoking tobacco cigarettes due to nicotine addiction.[4]
Vaping devices have gained immense popularity among teenagers, becoming the most prevalent form of nicotine used among youth in the United States. A 2020 report from the National Institute on Drug Abuse indicates that many teens are unaware that vaping cartridges contain nicotine and mistakenly believe they only contain flavoring.[5] The widespread availability of these devices, captivating advertisements, a wide range of e-liquid flavors, and the perception that they are safer than traditional cigarettes contribute to their appeal among this age group. Moreover, their concealable nature, lacking the distinct odor of tobacco cigarettes, and their ability to be disguised as flash drives make them easier for teens to hide from teachers and parents.[6]
Why do People Vape?
The idea that vaping is less harmful than smoking has made it especially popular to young audiences, who do not see negative repercussions from the devices and often do not even know they contain nicotine.[7] According to the CDC, some vaping devices advertise themselves as not even containing any nicotine despite being found to have it.[8] The popularity of vaping makes it extremely accessible to young people, and teenagers are especially susceptible to the idea of doing something because those around them choose to participate. The CDC adds that one of the most common reasons provided for beginning to vape by middle and high school students in the United States was that they had a friend who used vapes. Further, most participants added they continued to vape due to feelings of stress, depression and anxiety.[9]
Negative Health Effects
While there is a belief that vaping is significantly better for health than smoking cigarettes, this is not necessarily true. Vaping can be linked to a number of lung injuries and even deaths as a large number of harmful chemicals have been identified in these devices. Nicotine, found in both traditional cigarettes and e-cigarettes, serves as the main active component and possesses a strong addictive nature. It generates a desire for smoking and can lead to withdrawal symptoms if the craving is ignored. Johns Hopkins Medicine notes that nicotine is considered a toxic substance, capable of elevating blood pressure, triggering a surge in adrenaline levels, accelerating heart rate, and augmenting the risk of experiencing a heart attack.[10]
effects on the brain
Additionally, the use of nicotine during adolescence can pose risks to the developing brain, which continues to mature until approximately the age of 25. Nicotine consumption during this stage can potentially harm the regions of the brain responsible for attention, learning, mood regulation and impulse control.[11] In the process of forming memories or acquiring new skills, the brain establishes stronger connections (synapses) between its cells, and the adolescent brain constructs synapses at a faster rate compared to adult brains. However, nicotine alters the normal formation of these synapses. Furthermore, the use of nicotine during adolescence may also heighten the likelihood of future addiction to other substances.[12]
easing Anxiety?
The CDC found that when asked why they vape, one of the most common responses youth will provide is that it, “helps ease their feelings of stress, anxiety or depression”. However, continuous use of an e-cigarette can actually exacerbate these feelings.[13] Nicotine-containing e-cigarettes exert an impact on various major systems within the body. For instance, vaping stimulates increased dopamine activity in the brain's reward pathway, elevates heart rate and blood pressure, and potentially disrupts the functioning of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis. These physiological changes, in turn, have psychological implications for addiction, cognition, mood and anxiety.[14]
The use of nicotine salts in e-cigarettes enhances the efficiency of nicotine delivery, potentially increasing their addictive nature. Vaping may also result in short-term enhancements in cognitive performance, as nicotine has the ability to improve memory and attention. Users of e-cigarettes often report mood-enhancing and anxiety-reducing effects, although Tattan-Birch & Shahab (2020) note these may be actually attributed to the relief of withdrawal symptoms.[15] Symptoms of nicotine withdrawal encompass irritability, restlessness, feelings of anxiety or depression, sleep difficulties, impaired concentration, and intense cravings for nicotine. In an attempt to alleviate these symptoms, individuals may continue using tobacco products and associate their feelings of relief with the act of vaping rather than withdrawal. Teenagers may resort to vaping as a means to cope with stress or anxiety, inadvertently perpetuating a cycle of nicotine dependency.[16]
If you or someone you know is struggling with anxiety and/or nicotine addiction, please reach out to a licensed mental health professional (e.g., a psychotherapist, psychologist or psychiatrist) for guidance and support. Click here to see our interview on the role of social anxiety in addiction as well as how Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) and Exposure and Response Prevention (ERP) can be effective methods at overcoming substance abuse.
Contributed by: Ananya Kumar
Editor: Jennifer (Ghahari) Smith, Ph.D.
References
1 Texas Health and Human Services. (2023). What is Vaping? Texas Department of State Health Services. https://www.dshs.texas.gov/vaping/what-is-vaping#:~:text=Vaping%20simulates%20smoking.,cross%20over%20into%20the%20bloodstream.
2 Ibid.
3 Blaha, M. J. (2022). 5 Vaping Facts You Need to Know. Johns Hopkins Medicine. https://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/health/wellness-and-prevention/5-truths-you-need-to-know-about-vaping
4 Texas Health and Human Services
5 NIDA. 2020, January 8. Vaping Devices (Electronic Cigarettes) DrugFacts. Retrieved from https://nida.nih.gov/publications/drugfacts/vaping-devices-electronic-cigarettes
6 Ibid.
7 Johns Hopkins Medicine
8 Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (2022). Quick Facts on the Risks of E-cigarettes for Kids, Teens, and Young Adults. CDC. https://www.cdc.gov/tobacco/basic_information/e-cigarettes/Quick-Facts-on-the-Risks-of-E-cigarettes-for-Kids-Teens-and-Young-Adults.html
9 Ibid.
10 Johns Hopkins Medicine
11 CDC
12 Ibid.
13 Ibid.
14 Tattan-Birch, H., & Shahab, L. (2020). The Psychobiology of Nicotine Vaping. In Psychobiological Issues in Substance Use and Misuse (1st Edition). Routledge.
15 Ibid.
16 CDC