No matter how it’s delivered, nicotine is harmful for youth and young adults. E-cigarettes typically contain nicotine as well as other chemicals that are known to damage health. For example, users risk exposing their respiratory systems to potentially harmful chemicals in e-cigarettes. Read about these and other risks young people face if they use e-cigarettes.
Brain risks
During adolescence, the area of the brain that regulates decisions and impulses is still not fully matured. The use of nicotine and other substances, as well as other threats to their health and safety, are more common among young people. Youth and young people are particularly vulnerable to the long-term, long-lasting effects of nicotine exposure on their growing brains. These dangers include nicotine dependence, mental health issues, and a lifelong loss of impulse control. Additionally, nicotine alters the way synapses are created, which can affect the regions of the brain that regulate learning and attention.
Addiction
How does e-cigarette nicotine impact the brain? The human brain is still developing up until roughly age 25. Stronger connections, or synapses, are formed between brain cells each time a new memory or ability is gained. The brains of children develop synapses more quickly than those of adults. Adolescents are more susceptible to being hooked than adults since addiction is a type of learning. The nicotine in tobacco products, including e-cigarettes, can also prepare the teen brain for cocaine addiction.
Conduct Risks
Youth and young adults who use e-cigarettes are also more likely to use other tobacco products like traditional cigarettes, cigars, hookah, and smokeless tobacco.
According to some data, using e-cigarettes is associated with using alcohol and other drugs including marijuana. Additionally, some e-cigarette products can be utilised to transport other substances, such as marijuana.
Aerosol and Additional Risks
E-cigarette aerosol is not safe to inhale. It may include nicotine, ultrafine particles that can penetrate the deepest layers of the lungs, flavourings like diacetyl, which has been linked to a serious lung disease, volatile organic compounds like benzene, which is present in car exhaust, and heavy metals like nickel, tin, and lead. For both active users who inhale from a device and those who are exposed to the aerosol secondhand, scientists are still trying to better understand the health impacts and hazardous doses of e-cigarette contents when they are heated and transformed into an aerosol. Defective e-cigarette batteries, some of which have resulted in serious injuries due to fires and explosions, present another risk that should be taken into account. When the e-cigarette batteries were being charged, the majority of explosions took place.
If any of the challenges outlined in this article are impacting you, please reach out to us, and our team will try to assist in any way we can.