Smoking is nasty. I’m sorry. If I offend you with that, I am not meaning to target you, but really, it is gross. The smell, the look of it, and the health effects are certainly terrible. However, smoking has a new counterpart, vaping, and this is considered cleaner and less harmful. But is that really true? I am very unsure, especially because of my vaper friends.

Some of my friends began vaping in high school. It was actually during quarantine when they picked up the habit because I remember being really surprised when I met up with them for the first time after quarantine and half had vapes. I thought it was stupid and I still do, but I did not think too hard into the situation because I thought it would not affect their lives too much. However, I was definitely wrong.

It turns out, vaping greatly affected them. It began with making them addicted. Soon after they started, they began “craving” their nicotine and would begin stressing and becoming antsy when they were in school, unable to use their device in class. Then it developed into their taking “bathroom breaks” during class to use their vapes. This escalation happened quickly, and they were suddenly addicted without realizing it. But the effects of the vape started to show in their athleticism. All of my friends are decently athletic, but the ones who began vaping started losing their endurance and would become out of breath while throwing a football or during gym class. This was frightening because it was so atypical and it showed there was a very significant and negative impact on their bodies because of vaping.

Clearly, this is not healthy for you. But part of the problem is that once you start, it is very tough to stop. My friends have become addicted, and for a while, when they would say “ I can stop any time,” I would believe them, but now when I see them hitting their device every 5 minutes and losing their minds when they do not have it for a day, I know there is a problem.

So if you have not already, do not vape. It is pointless, and if you have any desire to keep your health and stay active, all you would be doing is hurting yourself.