Electronic cigarettes, known as e-cigarettes or vapourisers, established in the UK since 2007 are battery–operated devices that mimic the action of smoking, offering nicotine (in most cases), and are said to be slightly less toxic than tobacco smoke (but the scientific jury is still out on that!). Although the term ‘’vapour’’ may sound harmless, the aerosols that come out of an e-cigarette is not water vapour alone, as it contains carcinogens and other irritants. The e-cigarette heats up a liquid so that it, converting it to vapour that people can breathe in, mimicking smoke from a tobacco-based cigarette.
Each year smoking causes around 46,000 deaths from cancer and 28,000 from respiratory disease in the UK, plus an estimated 20,000 deaths from cardiovascular disease.
According to ASH (Action on Smoking and Health), almost half of the UK’s 2.8 Million e-cigarette users are former smokers, suggesting they are helping people to stop smoking. However, a study in the New England Journal of Medicine found that “ electronic cigarettes may function as a ‘’gateway drug” that can prime the brain to be more receptive to harder drugs.
Tests on volunteers showed that in the thirty minutes after smoking an e-cigarette containing nicotine there was a significant rise in blood pressure, heart rate and arterial stiffness which can lead to strokes and heart attacks.
E-cigarettes raises the risk of strokes, heart disease and heart attack by up to seventy per cent and there are more cancer-causing chemicals found in e-cigarettes. This is concerning as one in twenty adults in the UK and more than eleven per cent of high school students reportedly use e-cigarettes.
In the UK, e-cigarettes have caused burns and fires as a result of the e-cigarette itself exploding, usually as a result of using the wrong charger over charging the battery or incorrectly storing the device. Firefighters attend at least one fire a week caused by these devices. If you smoke an e-cigarette while pregnant, although the risks are lower than a normal cigarette, it could still increase the risk of birth defects of the face and oral cavity of your baby.
The question is, are e- cigarettes safer than the alternative? And, for almost all e- cigarette users the alternative is smoking, and this is where hypnotherapy comes in. The alternative really doesn’t have to be smoking at all! With hypnosis there is no need to gently let go of smoking by taking up e-cigarettes. Hypnosis will help you to give up smoking altogether, tailoring each treatment to each client, working with you on both a mental and an emotional level.
By Michelle Hill
The Mind’s Eye London
