What You Need to Know - Week of November December 5th

2. The Risks of Vaping and Nicotine

In the past 20 years, young adults have increasingly used e-cigarettes and vaping devices, with one in five high schoolers using a vape device in the past month. Vaping devices (also known as cigarettes, e-hookahs, mods, and vape pens) come in various shapes and sizes but work in a similar way. A battery in the device heats liquid in a cartridge to a vapor form, which can then be inhaled. Vaping exposes the lungs to chemicals, including tobacco (nicotine) or marijuana (THC), flavorants, and other harmful chemicals that are added to vaping liquids. Although vaping may be less harmful than traditional cigarettes, it can still greatly damage a user's health. 

The following are three of the biggest risks associated with vaping nicotine:

Addiction: The brain is developing until age 25, and using addictive substances like nicotine causes neurological damage to important parts of the brain that can affect development. 

Anxiety and depression: Vaping can worsen an individual's mental health and increase the likelihood of developing anxiety and depression. It also affects memory, concentration, self-control, and attention, especially in developing brains.

Lung and heart problems: The ingredients in vaping devices, including the toxic chemical formaldehyde, are extremely harmful to a user’s lungs, and daily vaping is associated with an increased risk of heart attacks. 

Quitting vaping does not have to be a solo journey. This is Quitting, the first ever text-to-quit vaping service is just a text away and is available 24/7 to help with cravings, stresses, and slips. Text DITCHVAPE to 88709 to learn more about the steps to quit vaping!

3. Chronic Disease Highlight: Diabetes

More than 37 million adults in the United States have diabetes, with one in five individuals not knowing that they have it. There are almost 600,000 adults living with type 1 and type 2 diabetes in Arizona, and an estimated 1 in 3 Arizonans have prediabetes. Diabetes is a long-lasting health condition that affects an individual’s ability to turn food into energy. After eating, the body breaks down food into sugars released into the bloodstream and signals for the pancreas to release insulin that allows blood cells to use the sugar for energy. There are two primary types of diabetes: type 1 and type 2. Approximately 5-10% of people with diabetes have type 1, which is caused by an auto-immune reaction that stops the pancreas from making insulin. About 90-95% of people with diabetes have type 2 diabetes which develops over many years and is usually diagnosed in adults, although more children, teens, and young adults have been diagnosed within recent years. In the United States, 96 million adults have a higher-than-normal blood sugar level that is not high enough to be considered type 2 diabetes yet. But without lifestyle changes, adults and children with prediabetes are at high risk of developing type 2 diabetes. Although there is currently no cure for type 1 diabetes, type 2 diabetes can be prevented or delayed with healthy lifestyle choices such as losing weight, eating healthy food, and being active. 

Find out if you are at risk of having prediabetes by taking a free online risk test!