Every culture has a proverb that stresses the importance of health. So, if “Good health is above wealth”, how come you smoke. How come we drink alcohol, live in polluted cities, stress over work and enjoy other benefits of civilized existence?
The answer is simply because we are stupid. You, me and everyone else have the same flaw. Most innocent manifestation of this flaw would be a decision to continue watching that show although it is already late and you have to go to work tomorrow.
We are just terrible at planning the future. You might have a plan for big things like pension, mortgage, etc., but if you think about it - you still make decisions that don’t make much sense. You run up credit card debt, stay up too late and you smoke. You do these things now because you don’t want to deal with this now. It is the future-you who will deal with it.
Everyone knows that smoking increases chances of cancer, ages skin and wreaks havoc all over your body but you don’t have to deal with it. This will be the problem of future-you.
It is very common to show that currently there is no proof that e-cigarette is dangerous.
When you ask a question about the latest research results for electronic cigarette, be honest, what you‘re really interested is "can you give me research that I can point at when I want to prove that vaping is healthy. “
Electronic cigarettes were introduced only in 2004. Some attempts to introduce electronic cigarette were made in the beginning of 90s and before that but those didn't catch on.
When you are talking about health related research these take decades. You need large enough group over large enough time to eliminate coincidence and establish causal effect that withstands criticism.
This is why e-cigarette is so loosely controlled and can still be promoted as a "healthier" choice. Filtered cigarettes were exactly the same.
Filtered cigarettes were introduced in 50s to address the public health scare. They were advertised as "healthy". By the middle of 70s the fact that smoking is a major cause of lung cancer has been proven and it took another decade for lawsuits to start.
Same goes for e-cigarette. It was introduced to address the declining rate of smoking, health concerns and advertising restrictions.
So for now what we know is this - it is loosely controlled (or better said largely unregulated) addiction forming device that has major health risks associated with it.
Latest research is very inconclusive because electronic cigarette, due to lack of control, does not have strict regulations. Vaporer liquid produced by different manufacturers differs and nobody can say for sure what is in it.
One thing is certain, you are still supplying your body with regular doses of nicotine and this way you are feeding your addiction.
Quitting smoking does not require reduction of doses, cleanses or other methods. Quitting smoking quickly is actually easier because you are not dragging the process out.
All you need in order to eliminate the nicotine addiction is strong reasons, good motivation and right attitude towards smoking.
Don’t let marketing agencies control you with their slick and misleading ads. They have no, zero evidence that electronic cigarette is safe. All they are doing is using loopholes while they can.
Soon electronic cigarettes will be regulated the same way regular ones are. FDA and health agencies from other countries are working on introduction of same regulations for e-cigarettes as for regular ones. I remember when e-cigarettes first came out you could smoke them in planes. So until e-cig peddlers are taken under control you need to stay focused, critical and understand that they are doing same thing Big Tobacco was doing in their heyday.
It is yet too early and latest research on electronic cigarette can’t say anything definite but expect to hear about huge lawsuits in 10-20 years of people suing e-cigarette manufacturers for the claims they are making today.
Health depends on what you put into your body, how you use it and what you inherited from your parents. This might actually be the reason why you are smoking as one of the things we inherit is tendency towards addictions.
This comes into play especially once you start feeling craving.
Your brain just wants its fix so it will start telling you that it doesn’t matter if you smoke or not. Our brain is great at thinking new and exciting ways to keep you from working and from changing behaviors. Once it will detect that it didn’t get its daily fix your brain will get to work trying to fool you. It won’t be for long but it is critical for you to be able to stand your ground against your own brain.
Again, health is a very good and very important reason to do not only this but other adjustments to your lifestyle.
I tried quitting few times before and when craving kicked in I would say to myself that I feel fine, my health is actually rather good and studies are yet to show anything wrong with e-cigarette.
Put health benefits on your list of reasons but remember that these reasons will have to withstand reasoning of an addicted brain. You will have to remind yourself that it is not some mythical future-you that will reap in the benefits, it is you-you.
Once you go smoke free, health improvements happen very quickly. Already by the end of a first day you will feel significant improvements in how you feel. Focus on this and if your brain tries to fool you remind yourself that it doesn’t matter that you might not get or get diseases either you smoke or not.
Now when you see that you might need other reasons to keep you motivated you might turn to another go-to reason on any list - money.