Health
Vaping Has Health Risks
While some companies claim that electronic cigarettes are less harmful than traditional ones, they still carry risk because of the nicotine and chemicals in the flavors being inhaled. Specific risks to the lungs, brain, and reproductive system can not only affect youth now but also have consequences later in life.
Your Health Risks
Lungs
Now
- When you first start vaping, you may have nose, mouth, and throat irritation.
- You may feel fatigued from decreased oxygen.
- You may experience lung inflammation, which causes coughs.
Vaping can cause obstructed bronchial tubes and popcorn lung.
Later
- After vaping for years, the irritation you once felt may develop into cancer in the nose, mouth, and throat.
- You may go into a drug-induced coma or have to use a ventilator.
- You may develop lung disease or have lungs so damaged that you require a transplant.
Reproduction
Now
- Testosterone levels in males may be lower than in nonsmokers.
- Vaping nicotine reduces the length of time for male fertility. So, you have a shorter time than other men to have a child.
- The nicotine and chemicals in e-cigarettes can cause inflammation that harms the developing brain.
Later
- The nicotine and chemicals in e-cigarettes over time can make it much harder for men and women to have a baby.
- Nicotine and flavors like cinnamon and bubblegum can alter male reproduction. It affects sperm count and whether sperm can function effectively.
- Exposing a baby to nicotine while pregnant may increase the risk of miscarriage and cause a baby to not grow at a normal rate. A baby not growing at a normal rate has risks: low birth weight, more likely to get sick, and long-term developmental problems.
The brain is negatively affected by the nicotine in e-cigarettes.
Brain
Now
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Vaping nicotine causes the brain to release dopamine, which triggers pleasure and reward. This pleasure causes people to become addicted.
Later
- Inflammation and stress to the brain can cause social maladjustments, aggressive and impulsive behaviors, poor sleep, attention problems, decreased memory and learning, and increased depression and thoughts of suicide.
- Over time, increased pleasure seeking through substances, causes people to abuse more substances (traditional cigarettes, alcohol, marijuana, etc.).
What is your Health Worth?
Making the right health decision is up to YOU.
Adrienne Duke, Extension Specialist and Associate Professor; Wanda Carpenter, former Regional Extension Agent; and Sallie Hooker, former Regional Extension Agent, all with Auburn University
Revised November 2022, Health Risks of Vaping: Electronic Cigarettes Now and Later, FCS-2449