October 12, 2017
Should Smokers Vape? Should Vapors Smoke?
Many people assume that if you vape, you don’t smoke and if you smoke, you don’t vape. While inhaling the vapor from the e-liquids that electronic cigarettes provide replaces smoking, that assumption would be incorrect. In fact, smokers that are trying to quit that habit will often vape when they can’t smoke as they try to wing themselves from the nicotine addiction.
Those people are known as dual users and it is those people that have thrown doubt on the potential of electronic cigarettes and the e-liquid used in them as being a substitute for tobacco. Because e-cigs are considered to be a quit smoking tool, this makes little sense for anyone to be using both, right?
Why The Dislike Of a Dual User?
The introduction of electronic cigarettes was that this is a healthier alternative to traditional tobacco for those who are addicted to nicotine. Because cigarettes have been linked to cancer and other diseases, that can cripple their lungs or other parts of the body, this new concept of vaping has been widely accepted by non-smokers. So when you see somebody vaping at work and then smoking a traditional cigarette at a bar, you have to ask yourself, are they really doing themselves any favors?
Aggressive Campaigns
Just like anything else, electronic cigarettes have critics too, and one of their favorite targets are dual users. They are thought of as “prime examples” of smokers that have failed their goal to quit smoking. The claim made by anti-electronic cigarettes people that those who are dual users of e-cigs and traditional cigarettes are probable to suffer the health issues of the traditional cigarettes. There are some anti electronic cigarette campaigns that claim inhaling the vaper of e-liquids do not help a smoker quit smoking.
Harm Is Reduced For Dual Users
Nevertheless, if electronic cigarettes can help a smoker quit or not, nobody can dispute the fact the electronic cigarettes and the e-liquids used in them are safer than traditional cigarettes or other forms of tobacco. Let’s take a look at some numbers:
A cigarette smoker will average around 200 puffs off their cigarette daily. By switching to electronic cigarettes totally, you are reducing your chance of health issues by 95%. Therefore, we would suffice to say that a dual user of traditional cigarettes and electronic cigarettes will reduce their health risk by 100 puffs per day, a reduction of 50%.
Encourage Dual Usage?
A non-smoker can’t understand that to quit smoking isn’t done by flipping a switch. A smoker has acquired an addition and they need a gradual process to be successful in quitting. It is not a transition and the presence of electronic cigarettes can be an immense help in making the transition a success. So, a dual smoker is simply using a helping hand to change their lifestyle, improve their health, and make a difference. If a smoker believes that by being a dual user will be helpful in quitting and recovering faster from their smoking addiction, then why not use that help?
February 2, 2018
US Study Shows Most Smokers Are Unhappy About Cigarette Addiction
By Mary in Health, Smoking No Comments
While it is often assumed that most smokers are happy to continue with their cigarette habit, in fact it appears that the opposite is more likely to be the case. Recent research carried out at the the GSU (Georgia State University)’s school of public health has shown that more than 80% of smokers involved in their study regretted ever taking up the habit and were unhappy about their addiction.
No Loss Of Pleasure Linked To Quitting
When smokers were asked, as part of the research, to verbalize their initial thoughts when bringing cigarettes to mind, some of the most common replies were “additive”, “cancer”, “expensive”, “stupid”, “dangerous” and “stinky”. The evidence therefore seems quite clear that the concept that the regulators currently have that smokers traditionally link the idea of quitting with a “loss of pleasure” is actually incorrect and misguided, since smokers do not seem to link pleasure with the habit in the first place.
The researchers are now urging the regulators to keep in mind that the number of smokers who expressed unhappiness about being addicted to cigarettes greatly outnumbered those who were keen to continue smoking when coming up with new regulations. They also pointed out that discontented smokers could benefited from improved welfare if new regulations were able to help them to escape their worries about the potential help effects of continuing to smoke.
Smokers With Psychological Distress Trying To Kick The Habit
This latest research backs up an earlier study this year which revealed that even those smokers who were suffering from high levels of psychological distress were working harder to decrease the number of cigarettes they smoked, thus emphasising the fact that, with an effective tobacco control policy in place, even the most dedicated smokers can make the effort to change with time.
The research covered 120,000 smokers who were asked about their attempts to quit and their smoking behaviour as well as their mental health. The data showed that smokers in all of the mental health categories smoked less in 2015 than they had in 1997, with even the most psychologically distressed patients dropping the number of cigarettes smoked to 14.5 from an average of 19.6.
These findings indicated that, since these smokers were keen to quit the habit, they could do with further help to give up, perhaps through encouraging them to use electronic cigarettes. Vaping has been shown to be very effective in reducing the health risks associated with smoking and also in helping smokers to give up tobacco. While finding a reliable electronic cigarette can be very time consuming, once smokers have settled on the right vaping device for them, they have an excellent chance of reducing their cigarette use and eventually giving up the habit completely.
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