My name is Becky Freeman. I'm Associate Professor of Public Health at the University of Sydney. I run a study called Generation Vape where we talk to thousands of young people from all across Australia. When you initially try a vape, it can be kind of deceiving how harmful they are. The high amounts of nicotine in that product can actually make you feel really nauseous, so that can be the really immediate acute effects. We also know that nicotine's really poisonous in terms of longer term impacts on lung health. We do know that they result in difficulty in breathing for some people, that they can feel that their lungs just aren't working like they did before they started vaping. We also know that nicotine addiction is also linked to depression. The real benefit of quitting is being able to feel normal and right in yourself without having vapes and nicotines in your system.
And there's no right or wrong way to go about quitting. I think some people think, you know, what's the secret recipe? You know, what's the hack to being able to quit vaping? And the secret is you've got to make that quit attempt and find out what's going to work best for you. There's actually a real broad range of supports available for you, so everything from the My QuitBuddy app that you can download, to calling the Quitline, accessing the Quit Hub online, talking to friends and family, going and seeing a trusted doctor or speaking to a nurse. You could even go to a pharmacy and speak to someone, so there's a real range of supports out there. Make that quit attempt and keep making quit attempts until you're successful. You don't have to be successful on the first go. It might take you two, three, four times, but seek out that support and never give up giving up.