You might have felt less anxious, sharper, and strangely like you had just aced a test after taking your first puff of nicotine vape within minutes. You were content. Sadly, nicotine can give a good first impression, but the mental tricks quickly overpower it.
If you don’t vape for a few hours, you could start to spiral. A brief vape session levels you off, but after a few hours you start to feel terrible again.
If you started vaping to deal with stress that was external, you now have one that is internal: your body is yelling for nicotine, and it won’t stop. Your mental health may begin to suffer as a result. Using a nicotine vape pen can lead to increased stress, not decreased stress.
Dopamine, pleasure, and addiction
Nicotine enters your lungs quickly when you smoke or vape and can reach your brain in a matter of seconds. Dopamine, a neurotransmitter that is a naturally occurring chemical messenger and a component of your body’s reward system, is stimulated to be released in your brain as a result.
Dopamine is your body’s way of saying “good job,” and among other things, the molecule is connected to learning, attention, and mood. The brain uses dopamine as a reward to motivate action. It might even be enjoyable. You also experience a small dopamine rush when you make purchases like brand-new sneakers or smell a freshly cooked dinner. The downside of dopamine is that it makes addiction extremely challenging.
The more you vape, the more you train your body to long for nicotine’s brief surge of dopamine. When you are completely dependent on nicotine, you essentially vape to prevent withdrawal.
Due to the fact that the human brain continues to develop up until about age 25, the younger you are, the more likely you are to pick up this addictive tendency. You’ve been a prime target for vape companies pretty much since you were in summer camp because you form synapses faster, which makes getting addicted easier.
raising awareness of juvenile e-cigarette use and mental health
Truth started a campaign to raise awareness of the link between youth vaping and mental health last year. Their most recent campaign, Breath of Stress Air, expands on that work by dispelling the idea that vaping reduces stress.
The idea of using nicotine vapes to reduce stress is turned on its head by this most recent promotion. The existence of this tale is not a coincidence. For many years, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic, the tobacco industry has leveraged the idea that nicotine is a stress-relieving substance as a marketing strategy.
Several vape firms used the idea of offering an escape from what was happening to sell their goods when things started to turn upside down. case daycaseIn fact, 93% of vapers said that vaping had a negative impact on their life because it made them feel more agitated, unhappy, or anxious, according to survey data from the Truth Initiative.
Many smokers also have the mistaken belief that tobacco products help reduce tension or anxiety. According to studies on the impacts of quitting smoking on mental health, what may be happening is that they are misinterpreting the capacity of these items to reduce nicotine withdrawal symptoms as a positive impact on mental health.
In other words, vaping is a stress reliever for not vaping; it amplifies stress rather than reducing it.
Selling the stress-reduction fallacy
It’s not a mistake that many have the misconception that nicotine can help them relax. It is a comprehensive, decades-long marketing campaign, in which the tobacco industry has devoted substantial resources to attempt and convince people there is a connection between tobacco use and mental well-being, stress alleviation, relaxation, and enjoyment.
One well-known disposable e-cigarette brand, which promoted its product during the pandemic as a way to “stay sane,” advertised it as “the perfect escape from back-to-back Zoom calls, parental texts, and WFH stress.” Some e-cigarette brands are now also focusing on themes of stress relief and mental well-being.
The tobacco industry has gone so far as to donate cigarettes to mental clinics, in addition to promoting studies that suggest smoking is a kind of self-medication and employing stress relief themes in advertising.
The methods to reclaim your freedom
According to studies, stopping smoking can improve one’s quality of life and mood as well as reduce stress, anxiety, and depression. According to Truth Initiative survey results, 90% of people who gave up smoking claimed to feel less worried, anxious, or sad.
This is Quitting, a first-of-its-kind, free, and anonymous text message programme launched by truth, was developed exclusively to assist children and young adults in giving up nicotine vaping (to sign up, all you need to do is text DITCHVAPE to 88709). According to a recent research trial, young adults between the ages of 18 and 24 were more likely to quit using This is Quitting from Truth than a control group. The programme has been utilised by more than 425,000 young people in their effort to quit.
Ref: https://mashable.com/ad/article/vaping-nicotine-myth-stress-relief
In case any of the issues described in this article are affecting you, please do not hesitate to contact us, and we will see what we can do to assist you.