Don’t Juul, Its not Cool  

College of DuPage Nursing Student Arleth Gonzalez shared with Healthy Lombard that during this past decade, the way to live has been to embrace anything electronic. Who would’ve ever have thought that electronic cigarettes would’ve swept away the tobacco market? Certainly, most of us are aware of the negative long-term health effects of tobacco. Somehow, though, smoking has been converted to an electronic form which is now supposedly less harmful. The facts are important to consider before switching to electronic cigarettes (e-cigarette) as a method of smoking.

Roughly 90% of adults who smoke cigarettes daily first tried smoking by age 19 American Journal of Public Health, 2021). These trends matter; with e-cigarettes currently on the market, it is evident that they have been aggressively marketed to adolescents. Electronic cigarette flavors range from cotton candy to bubble gum, so the experience is more enjoyable and desirable to adolescents. Some might argue that e-cigarettes are not as detrimental to one’s health as a regular cigarette, and certainly not to a young “healthy” person. 

In reality, it takes time to properly evaluate the side effects of a product, medication, etc. and e-cigarettes are fairly new to the market. The respiratory side effects are still unknown to some extent. An example may be using a hair product that had not been previously tested to determine if it causes the hair to fall out or turn green. According to Rodriguez (2020), e-cigarettes or vaping products use-associated lung injury (EVALI) as a diagnosis of exclusion. The most common clinical characteristics of EVALI include dyspnea, cough, chest pain, fever, chills, nausea, vomiting, and diarrhea similar to the symptoms COVID-19 patients. Those experiencing this Covid-19 pandemic should be taking into account their health; just because one is young, they are not bulletproof. During this time, it is important to keep health in mind and consider ways to optimize the body’s performance rather than engage in unhealthy habits, especially habits that might cost someone their life. Remember, it is not cool to Juul.

References

Gee, R. E., Boles, W. R., & Smith, D. G. (2021). E-Cigarettes: A Public Health Threat, Not                                 a Population Health Intervention. American Journal of Public Health, 111(2),                          224-226. doi:10.2105/AJPH.2020.306072

Rodriguez, J. A., Roa, A. A., & Lemos-Ramirez, J. C. (2020). E-Cigarette or Vaping                                Product Use-Associated Lung Injury (EVALI) Mimicking COVID-19 Disease.                             Case Reports in Pulmonology, 1–3.                                                                                                   https://doi.org.cod.idm.oclc.org/10.1155/2020/8821289