Learn About Vaping

Vaping irritates the throat and can lead to coughing, wheezing, and other respiratory symptoms. Over time, it inflames your airway and increases your risk of developing chronic lung diseases such as asthma, bronchitis, Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disorder (COPD), and emphysema. This risk is even higher for those who use both e-cigarettes and tobacco cigarettes. 

Some of the chemicals and by-products in vaping devices can build up in your lungs and cause long-term damage. The process of heating the e-liquid can produce additional chemicals that might be toxic when inhaled. These chemicals and their health effects are still under investigation.

Vaping raises your blood pressure and can increase your risk of heart disease. Using a vaping product just once was shown to increase people's heart rates and cause their arteries to stiffen.  Over time, vaping may cause damage to the lining of the arteries responsible for regulating inflammation and blood clotting.  

Vaping increases your risk of having a stroke, especially at a younger age. 

Vaping may also increase your blood sugar levels and lead to prediabetes, putting you at risk for type 2 diabetes. 

Vaping may also contribute to poor oral health and increase your risk of gum disease.

 Vaping can also contribute to vision loss. 

Vaping may weaken bones and increase risk of fractures and bone breaks. 

Nicotine is approved for use in nicotine replacement therapies, such as the nicotine patch or gum. However, there are risks linked to nicotine and it is a highly addictive substance. As well, exposure to nicotine from tobacco is known to contribute to increased heart rate and blood pressure and to cardiovascular disease, and it is suspected that nicotine exposure from vaping has similar long-term cardiovascular effects. 

Vaping products contain nicotine in various concentrations, compared to more standardized amounts found in cigarettes and nicotine replacement therapy. Some products contain much higher levels of nicotine than cigarettes. Vaping with nicotine can also lead to side effects like seizures or blackouts, due to inhaling too much nicotine in a short period of time. This is considered a form of nicotine poisoning. 

 Young people are especially vulnerable to the effects of nicotine. The human brain is still developing in adolescence and continues to develop past age 25.  Using nicotine in adolescence disrupts cognitive function and can permanently alter the parts of the brain that control attention, learning, and memory. 

Nicotine use in adolescence also impacts: 

• Mood: increased risk of depression and/or anxiety; increased irritability 

• Behaviour: reduced impulse control, difficulty concentrating 

Young people can get addicted to nicotine more easily than adults. Nicotine use in adolescence may also increase the risk of future addiction to other drugs. 

Nicotine can be harmful to fetal development and can lead to adverse effects in brain or lung development and to low birth weight.

Bystanders can also be exposed to aerosol that is exhaled when someone vapes, and the effects of this exposure are not yet known. While the risks of aerosol are expected to be much lower than tobacco smoke, Health Canada recommends that people using e-cigarettes be cautious around non-users and children.

There have been injuries due to vaping product malfunctions, including explosions and fires. For more information on product safety requirements, and how to protect yourself, read about vaping product, safety and regulation.

While some people have found success using vaping to quit smoking, vaping is not a proven quit method and it carries health risks that aren’t fully understood. There are many safe and effective methods that have been proven to help you quit smoking.

Click here to learn more about the methods that are proven to help you quit or reduce smoking or other tobacco use.

QuitNow offers personalized coaching to help you quit or reduce vaping, by phone or live chat, free of charge.

The only way to fully protect yourself from the risks of vaping is to avoid all vaping products. However, if you do intend to keep using e-cigarettes or other vaping products, ensure you are getting them from a reputable source. Do not buy them from informal sources (e.g. off the street) and refrain from modifying the contents.

You can also reduce your risk by purchasing pods with the lowest amount of nicotine available. You can also try to limit the number of times a day you vape, or aim to vape every other day or even less frequently.

QuitNow’s Quit Coaches can help you make a plan to quit or reduce vaping use, via phone or live chat 24/7.

Click here for some tips on how to quit vaping.