More than 11% of teens share a dirty little secret (“New Study Reveals”, 2018). I’ll give you a hint as to what it is: it’s black, looks like a flash drive, and is the future of nicotine addiction.
Vaping, especially “juuling,” has taken the United States by storm in the past few years. In fact, United States Surgeon General Jerome Adams has declared “e-cigarette use [vaping] among youth an epidemic in the United States.” But what’s the big deal? Juuls make up over 70% of the vapes on the market, so they can’t be that bad, right?
Wrong.
Nicotine addiction is easily the most serious impact that vaping and e-cigarettes are having on today’s youth. The most dangerous part is that this addiction often goes undetected, not only by the teen’s family, but also by the teen themselves. Ask any teen who regularly vapes about their nicotine addiction, and you’re sure to hear, “I’m not addicted,” or, “I could quit right now if I wanted to.” But the thing is, nobody ever does want to quit. Maybe it’s because of the inability to concentrate, dry mouth, headaches, insomnia, intense cravings, fatigue, and vomiting that are all symptoms of nicotine withdrawal.
These symptoms are made much more intense if the person’s nicotine intake increases. This becomes problematic when talking about “juulers” because one Juul pod contains 40 mg of nicotine, an amount comparable to that in a whole pack of cigarettes. For some, a pod can last a few weeks (each pod contains about 200 puffs worth of solution); however, some teens go through multiple pods a week. The more nicotine you intake, the longer and more intense of an effect it has on your brain.
Nicotine always has a negative impact on the human brain, and these effects are only amplified when the user is an adolescent. Nicotine works by stimulating the reward centers of the brain in order to produce amplified levels of dopamine and adrenaline. Inhaled nicotine only takes about 6 seconds to hit the central nervous system, so the effect is almost immediate. This causes the body’s hormone levels to quickly change, creating the effect of a buzz. Continuous reward center stimulation over time leads to the brain becoming addicted to the altered dopamine levels while also raising the brain’s tolerance. In a 2012 study by Goriounova and Mansvelder, it was proven that the brain needs more dopamine to feel the same effect and, therefore, more nicotine to stimulate the dopamine production. This cycle causes the user to have to take more and more smoke breaks in order to feel the same buzz. It also makes them more desperate to find other, possibly more effective ways to get the same effects. According to the National Institute on Drug Abuse, almost one-third of teenagers will start smoking within 6 months of starting to vape.
Besides the obvious changes to the brain’s normal chemical makeup, another problem lies in the fact that nicotine completely inhibits brain cell formation. While it is in one’s body, their brain cannot recover or develop. We all know that adolescence is the final and most complex stage of brain maturation, so it makes sense that this growth inhibition could cause problems. The main structure of the brain being developed during this period is the prefrontal cortex, the front part of the brain responsible for adult-level rational thought, decision making, and personality. If the brain’s cells cannot form while under the effects of nicotine, then this important structure cannot fully develop. This could lead to the user not being able to make well-informed decisions or have a complex personality as an adult. However, there is still hope. If the user were to quit using nicotine before their brain was fully developed around age 25 to 28, then their brains would have a little more time to catch up and fully or at least partially develop these structures.
All in all, nicotine has many negative effects on the brain, especially those of adolescents. It prevents brain development and can permanently cause certain brain structures to form improperly or incompletely. This could lead to the nicotine user’s life being affected permanently, even if they were to stop using. It is important to know these dangers so that one can be completely informed about the harm nicotine is causing and make all of the proper steps to quit before it is too late. Vaping is our generation’s gateway drug, and continuing to use is only making one more likely to use other, more dangerous forms of smoking later on.