Can quitting smoking help my mental health?

man breaking cigarette

Can quitting smoking help your mental health?

Giving up smoking is one of the hardest things a person can do in their life. Due to nicotine being a highly addictive substance, it is very easy for someone to have a dependency on it, and giving up on nicotine isn’t as easy and straight forward as someone might think.

Withdrawal symptoms are a very real thing when it comes to nicotine, and this could heavily affect somebodies mental health, which is why it’s suggested that Nicotine Replacement Therapy is used instead of the cold turkey method of going without completely.

In this article, I’m going to look at how Vaping could help with your mental health, and what’s unique about our WholeNic Nicotine Salt we use in our 2X Vape Juice range, and how this could also help.

Why give up smoking?

As it is has been widely reported for as long as I can remember, Smoking is the leading cause of preventable deaths in the entire world. It’s one of the main causes of Cancer as well as Heart and Lung Disease and several other serious health conditions.

This is down to the 6000+ chemicals, tar volume and carcinogenic properties found within tobacco cigarettes when a cigarette is lit and burned down. The common misconception is Nicotine is one of the offending ingredients but it actually isn’t harmful, just has very addictive properties.

More and more people in the UK are giving up smoking with the number of smokers in the UK at an all time low with people becoming more aware of what they are putting in their bodies and want to improve their physical health as well as their life longevity.

But as well as improving physical health, stopping smoking may also improve a persons mental health as well. Giving up smoking will drastically decrease your chances of getting a fatal disease linked to smoking, which will lift a huge worry weight off your shoulders I’m sure! This may then help your mind to be in a better position to keep any depression or anxiety symptoms creeping in.

Smoking does not help your mental health

The common misconception people may have is that smoking helps their mental health, believing sparking up that cigarette will alleviate any stress that they may be feeling and feeling calm and relaxed.

This isn’t the cigarette that’s doing that, it’s the nicotine! The cigarette is just adding carbon monoxide, tar and carcinogenic’s into your body, whilst the Nicotine is plugging away doing all the ground work.

When ingested, nicotine can act as a stimulant to the body and mind. This is caused by nicotine delivering a “kick” to the Adrenal glands, causing them to become stimulated and releasing a small amount of adrenaline through the body. This then caused a chain reaction within the body by increasing heart rate, blood pressure and the rate of breathing.

Whilst delivering this kick, it also indirectly releases a small amount of dopamine to the pleasure and motivation parts of the human brain.

Studies have also shown that nicotine appears to help improve memory and concentration levels, and reduces anxiety levels.

Nicotine does have negative effects also, with it being highly addictive and can lead to a person becoming dependant on nicotine if frequently used.

Stopping smoking could help your mental health

Now we’ve discussed how smoking doesn’t help your mental health, I’ll talk about how stopping smoking could aid you in maintaining good mental health

Greater sense of well-being

Smoking can cause somebodies general well being to decline over time, with health problems being rife for long term smokers. Tar ingested from smoking cigarettes resides in the lungs and respiratory tract and is often what makes people cough or wheeze, and even develop breathing related illnesses like COPD or Asthma.

Knowing your general wellbeing is getting better and not worse and being able to walk for distance, exercise and not have a consistent cough must be good for your mental health, right? I know it certainly would be for mine if I were quitting smoking.

Plus having the ability to exercise can help release endorphins and dopamine in the body that lifts your mood and makes you feel much better about yourself.

Saving yourself a lot of money

Everyone in life has some point been worried about their financial situation. Some more than others, with it being a daily constant worry about their income and the ever-rising cost of living crisis we are in playing a massive part.

The cost of smoking is also going up, with cigarettes being at the highest price they’ve ever been. If you are a smoker, as well as trying to live, you’d have the daily struggle of making your money stretch from pay packet to pay packet, making sure you can afford your bills, food, and cigarettes to keep your nicotine levels topped up that you’ve come to be dependent on.

If you stopped smoking, that’s a massive amount of money you will save that can be used for more necessary things in your life. This is another massive worry that can lead to depression or anxiety removed in a flash by kicking those cigs to the curb.

How can vaping help my mental health?

So, we get to the subject topic at hand, how does vaping help your mental health?

Vaping is a safer, healthier alternative to smoking, and can still help people get their nicotine fix without any of the nasty side effects of smoking. Public Health England have declared vaping to be 95% safer than smoking, and this is something I wholeheartedly agree with.

Giving up smoking and opting to vape means you will still be able to get your nicotine and not have to suffer any of the commonly found withdrawal symptoms if you went the cold turkey method. Another thing you won’t have to worry about!

As well as that, you’d become part of the vaping community which has a huge base and is very welcoming to all from what I’ve experienced. Vape shops are becoming destinations for likeminded vapers to hang out and meet new people as well as vape expos filled to the brim with vaping enthusiasts.

What is WholeNic?

Below are a few facts regarding what has been created with WholeNic;

  • WholeNic® is the world’s only e-liquid that recreates the feeling of smoking.
  • WholeNic® is MHRA registered and exceeds all UK and EU safety standards.
  • WholeNic® contains the full spectrum of nicotinic alkaloids found in tobacco, in the same proportions as a cigarette, providing everything in tobacco that gives smokers pleasure.
  • WholeNic® contains zero TSNAs and zero carcinogens.

At 2X Vape, we are fully aware of just how hard it is to give up smoking, and that is a massive hurdle for people to overcome, which is why we opted to include our patented WholeNic Nicotine Salt within our 2X Vape juice range to give people the closest thing to smoking a cigarette without smoking a cigarette itself so you can get a satisfying nicotine fix without all the bad stuff.

*This article has been written as advice only, and the opinions in this article are mine and not of a medical professional. If you are looking to quit smoking, or in the process of quitting smoking and finding your mental health is declining, contact your local GP for professional medical guidance and advice*