nicotine

Vaping and Blood Pressure

January 26, 2016

Some smokers may be aware that smoking raises blood pressure, among other things. So where do we stand if we switch from cigarettes to e-cigs?

The first thing to be aware of is that smoking doesn’t necessarily cause high blood pressure. However, the exposure to nicotine in a cigarette does raise the blood pressure. It’s just that it happens for a short period of time. So you smoke a cigarette, your BP rises, and after a while it falls back to its normal level.

Does the same apply with e-cigarettes?

Cutting down or switching to e-cigs seems to be better for your blood pressure than stopping smoking altogether without switching to e-cigs. It sounds crazy, but the research appears to back it up. Dr Farsalinos has written extensively about the effects of e-cigs on blood pressure. He has explored the results taken from the ECLAT study – a study looking into how effective e-cigs are as a method for quitting smoking.

According to the results of this study, people who had normal BP readings at the start continued to get similar results throughout the 52 weeks the study lasted for. The real interest started when looking at those whose BP was already raised. This group experienced a drop in systolic BP when either switching to e-cigs or cutting their cigarette smoking habit in half.

Could nicotine have beneficial properties?

Other studies have also highlighted the power nicotine seems to have to reduce blood pressure. One doctor has researched whether nicotine could help those with Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s diseases. He discovered nicotine had the effect of reducing blood pressure in test subjects.

So what’s the truth?

Many people have been able to quit smoking completely with the aid of electronic cigarettes. We know smoking is bad for our health, so it might come as a surprise to realise that nicotine may not have quite the effect we first thought.

Of course, plenty more research must be done before we know for certain how BP can change (for the better or worse) as a result of smoking or using e-cigs. But this particular research does give food for thought. In fact, if you’re considering switching from smoking to vaping, it could give you the final push you need to make the change.

Finally, staying healthy in other ways will no doubt help too, although weight and age were factored into the results with this particular study.

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By admin

Is Nicotine Really That Bad?

November 6, 2015

Nicotine is addictive. Most people – whether they are smokers or not – will know and agree with that. Nicotine produces a ‘rush’ in the body that is very appealing. It’s incredibly easy – alarmingly easy, in fact – to get addicted. That’s why smokers find it so hard to stop. In fact it is thought that willpower alone isn’t usually enough to quit the habit, because the power of nicotine to keep you hooked is so strong.

The feeling nicotine gives you when you smoke is one of pleasure. It’s fast too – and it wears off just as quickly. That’s why it’s so easy to want to smoke more all the time.

So is there anything good to be said about nicotine?

Actually, there might be. Research has been conducted into the effects nicotine has on the body and on the brain, and some interesting results have come to light. For example, one study conducted way back in the Sixties threw up an interesting factor with regard to smokers. While they were more likely to suffer from lung cancer and emphysema when compared to those who didn’t smoke, they were less likely to get Parkinson’s disease. Three times as many non-smokers contracted Parkinson’s when compared to the smokers in the same study. It was subsequently confirmed with more research.

Since the Sixties, other studies have seemed to confirm the idea that nicotine can have a potentially-positive effect on the brain. Indeed, while we’ve already mentioned Parkinson’s, it seems that nicotine might have the potential to help treat the symptoms of that same disease. Nicotine triggers enhanced dopamine levels in the brain, and dopamine is known to reduce movement. Hence it can reduce the tremors that are associated with Parkinson’s disease.

Nicotine separated from tobacco

It is important to realise that nicotine is usually taken in by people when smoking. This means they’ll be smoking tobacco as well as inhaling the nicotine. That’s one of the reasons why there is plenty of room for further studies looking into nicotine on its own, instead of as part of a cigarette.

There has been some research into this area already. While limited, it could be that nicotine might have the potential to prevent dementia. The same applies with regard to cognitive decline. However this is by no means certain. It is definitely worthy of further research though, so we can see whether nicotine on its own could have a lot to recommend it with regard to isolated and controlled use.

Addiction

There are plenty of drugs that are highly addictive in themselves. Think of morphine for example – and yet it is used to relieve pain in patients after surgery and in other worthwhile situations. Could it be that if nicotine is isolated from the other ingredients in a cigarette and given in controlled doses, it too could have a positive effect on those with certain illnesses that affect the brain?

It is too early to say. Yet it is definitely worth looking into this area. Again, the limited amount of evidence and research available seems to suggest people who have a mild degree of cognitive impairment could be helped with nicotine. It is not an invitation to go out and start smoking, since this brings with it problems of its own. But if nicotine could be isolated and given as a drug under controlled conditions, perhaps it could be of significant use in the future.

It is too early to say for sure, of course. Yet there is certainly enough evidence here to support further study into the effects of nicotine on cognitive function in the future.

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By admin

How to Keep Yourself Distracted From Smoking

October 8, 2015

Deciding to give up smoking is a big decision and many smokers this October will be participating in the Stoptober challenge to quit smoking for 28 days. The decision to quit smoking could have a huge and positive effect on your health and well being too. But let’s be honest – it won’t always be smooth sailing.

Smoking is a habit in more than one way. You’ll be addicted to the nicotine, certainly, but you could also find you struggle to keep your hands occupied. You’ll have got used to the feeling of holding a cigarette as well as smoking one.

In short, it pays to be distracted. Think of something else to hold in your hand instead. Some people switch to e-cigarettes, but you might also want to keep something else handy for times when you’re not using your e-cigs. It doesn’t matter what it is – just choose something you can easily fiddle with and keep close at hand. A coin, a pen, even a small pebble or worry stone – anything can work.

Whenever you feel the urge to smoke coming on, find things to do with your hands and your mind. Ideally you should already have a list of things to do so you can immediately try one of them. People have all kinds of things they turn to when the urge arises. Maybe one of these will help you:

• Read a book
• Listen to music
• Clean the car
• Go for a walk
• Do some cooking
• Chew some gum
• Go somewhere where smoking is not allowed

Everyone finds different distraction techniques that will work for them. It’s really a case of trying different things until you find the ones that make the most sense for you. Most cravings pass in a relatively small amount of time. The trick is to get through that period of time by doing something else.

If you do switch to using e-cigarettes, you could benefit from having more than one of them. For example, keep one at home, one in the car and maybe one at work too. The idea is you should always have one with you. The same applies to sugar-free gum and that worry stone or pen you have been using to fiddle around with to keep those hands busy.

Remember too that the longer you go without a cigarette, the fewer nicotine cravings you are likely to have. If you take things a day at a time to begin with and use as many of the above tricks as you can, you might just achieve your goal of quitting.

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Quit Smoking by Vaping more

April 22, 2015

Have you been trying to quit smoking? There have been many techniques and products available to assist smokers in their determibned effort to kick the habit, some more effective than others. Now, the new trend of vaping has been shown by studies to be an effective method in helping smokers quit or cut down on their daily tobacco comsumption.

Recent studies have shown that vapers using tank type e-cigarettes are more likely to quit smoking cigarettes.
Tank e-cigarettes can be refilled with e-liquids as opposed to the original e-cigarettes (imitation type cigarettes) that also use cartridges.
The study showed that daily use with Tanks are more likely to help smokers quit. The more you vaped with tanks the more likely you will quit smoking rather than trying to quit with infrequent vaping.

The study conducted by Ann McNeill, a professor at the Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology & Neuroscience at King’s College London concluded that for those wanting to quit smoking use e-cigarettes more frequently and actively try to stop smoking.

There were two studies done on around 1500 smokers in Britain in December 2012 and the subjects of the study were followed up one year later in 2013.

The first study found that of those who vaped daily with e-cigarettes 65% tried to quit smoking the following year whereas only 44% tried to quit that did not vape. Further, of the daily vapers 14% had cut down on their consumption of tobacco by at least 50% and of the non vapers it was a mere 6%.

The second study of 587 people using e-cigarettes, after a year, 24% of them used the tank models. Of The tank model vapers almost 1/3 had quit smoking. Of the e-cigarette vapers only 1/8 had managed to quit.

It is hard to draw a hard conclusion why Tanks perform better than e-cigarettes.  It could be that they are more economical than e-cigarettes and/or that the refillable nature means more control on choice and nicotine strength.

Linda Bauld, a professor of health policy at the University of Stirling added that the studies contributed to the growing literature on e-cigarettes. She concluded that what we do know is: the type of device, the frequency of use and how much nicotine it contains all contribute to quitting smoking.

Martin McKee, a professor of European public health at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, added that it appears vaping can seriously change the tobacco industry, however a precautionary approach by all health authorities is still justifed.

quit smoking – infographic

Checkout the infographic below which shows the findings of the study, illustrating the effectiveness of vaping to quit smoking and how e-cigs compare to tanks:

infographic showing effectiveness of ecigs vs tanks when quitting smoking

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By steffanr