HEALTH

In the past few years, vaping—the use of electronic cigarettes or a similar device—has become extremely popular, especially for teens. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the use of vapes or e-cigarettes by middle and high school students has tripled in the last few years. Companies claim that vaping is much healthier than smoking regular cigarettes because instead of producing smoke, it produces water vapor. The truth? Vaping is still extremely dangerous and harmful to the body. Here's why you should stay away from it. 

Nicotine is super addictive.

Nicotine, a chemical found in both regular cigarettes and e-cigarettes, can be extremely addicting. While many people claim that a pro to vaping is that the liquid contains less nicotine than regular cigarettes, it still has the same addictive properties. No matter what form, it’s best to just stay away from nicotine completely. 

The products are very new.

The scariest part about vaping is that it is all so new and there hasn’t been extensive research on the products yet. People have been smoking cigarettes for years, so scientists have been able to study the long term effects of smoking. Vaping however, has only been popular for a few years, meaning that not enough time has elapsed to allow the study of the long-term negative effects on young users...

There are tons of health risks.

...that being said, scientists have still found many health risks associated with vaping. In fact, research from the UNC Center for Environmental Medicine says that vaping may cause the body more harm than cigarette smoke. And according to The Daily Dot, the battery inside the cigarette and the liquid can cause inflammation in the lungs and even lung cancer. The water vapor can also dry out your skin, get into your nasal passages and cause nose bleeds. 

Needless to say, vaping is totally not worth the risk, so why start?

Have you ever tried vaping? What are your thoughts on the trend?

We want to hear from you! Send us your weirdest body questions here (seriously, we'll answer anything!) and it just might get featured.

by Emily Mullin | 8/19/2016