Just because your mates smoke or vape, should you?
Nicotine, through smoking cigarettes or vaping, is highly addictive. Data over the last five years shows most smokers want to quit, but can’t due to an addiction to nicotine that started in their teenage years.
Most young people don’t smoke, but those who do start smoking can easily get addicted.
Vaping is also not risk-free, and is not recommended for non-smokers, especially young people under the age of 18 because their developing lungs and brains mean they are more sensitive to its effects. The long-term side effects of vaping are currently unknown.
The short-term effects of vaping can include coughing headaches, dizziness, and sore throats.
Most children and young people don’t vape or smoke. Don’t smoke? Don’t start to vape.
What are the benefits of quitting smoking and/or vaping?
- Quitting smoking will give you money you never knew you had! That’s cash to spend on more meals out, clothes or a holiday! If you smoke 10 a day, you could save over £2,000 a year.
- A fit lifestyle and smoking don’t mix very well. Physical activity for smokers can be more challenging including loss of breath and coughing. If you stopped smoking today, you’ll see improvements to your overall fitness levels after just a couple of weeks.
- You’ll see the benefits just a couple of weeks after quitting including, having more energy, feeling healthier and healthier looking skin!
- We all know smoking isn’t good for our physical health, but it isn’t good for our mental health either. Stopping smoking is proven to improve your overall wellbeing by lowering common feelings such as stress, anxiety, and depression
- Vaping contributes to air pollution and the accumulation of plastic waste in the environment
- In the UK we bin nearly 5 million vapes each week – that’s roughly 8 vapes every second. That’s a huge amount of waste that has to go somewhere. Some enters the environment as litter, some goes for recycling, while the rest ends up in landfills.
