Health impacts
Vaping is harmful to your health. Here’s what you need to know:
- Vapes can have high levels of nicotine and can contain over 200 different chemicals which can be harmful to your lungs and your health.
- Vaping can make you breathless and cause persistent coughing.
- Vaping can make you feel short of breath, nauseous and dizzy.
- Contrary to claims on packaging, most vapes in Australia contain nicotine which is highly addictive.
- Social vaping or doing it occasionally can quickly lead to dependence on nicotine and a desire to vape more often.
- Vaping can lead to smoking – non-smokers who vape are 3 times more likely to take up smoking cigarettes.
Vaping and nicotine can affect your memory, attention, learning and mood. Vaping can also make mental health issues like anxiety and depression worse. There is help available if you’re experiencing mental health difficulties. You can talk to your GP or a health professional or try one of these organisations.
- 13YARN (13 9276)
- Beyond Blue (online or phone 1300 224 636)
- Head to Health (1800 595 212)
- Headspace (online or phone 1800 650 890)
- ReachOut (online)
Learn more about the effects of vaping.
Benefits of quitting
You have many reasons to quit vaping.
You’ll be free from nicotine dependence
When you quit vaping, you’ll break your body’s dependence on nicotine. You’ll feel more in control and have more freedom to make choices about your life that don’t revolve around vaping. You won’t be restricted by thinking about finding time and places to vape.
You’ll have more money
Every dollar you save by not vaping can be spent on other things that are important to you. If you spend $20 a week on vaping, you could save over $1,000 a year by quitting. Work out how much you could save by quitting vaping and what you could do with this money instead.
You’ll be helping your friends, family and the environment
When you vape, it affects those around you as well as the environment. Quitting improves the health of those around you by reducing passive vaping and protecting them from the nicotine and toxic chemicals in vapour. This can make a big difference for children or young people in your family if you vape in your home.
Vapes have a big impact on the environment. Many vape pods are plastic (made from non-renewable fossil fuels) and can’t be recycled as they contain toxic chemicals and nicotine. When vapes are littered or go into landfill, they contaminate the environment with poisons including nicotine, heavy metals and flammable lithium-ion batteries. This waste can take centuries to break down.
Learn more about the benefits of giving up vaping for good.
Quitting vaping
You won’t be alone if you choose to say no to vaping.
Quitting nicotine isn’t easy but the results are worth it, and there is lots of support available to help you do it. Quit support services are proven to help people quit nicotine – no matter how long you’ve been doing it.
If you have been using vapes to help you quit smoking, your first step is to speak with your doctor about what options may be available to help manage cravings.
There are many other products to help you quit smoking that are effective and have lower health risks, including patches, gum, oral sprays, inhalers, lozenges and tablets.
Your doctor or nurse may prescribe vapes as a last line cessation tool.
While some people may have successfully quit smoking using an e-cigarette, the overall evidence of the effectiveness of these products being used for this purpose is limited. You should have a plan in place to eventually quit vaping entirely.
Start your quit journey here and join the thousands of Australians who are giving up for good.