The healthcare issue under review is the use of e-cigarettes and their health hazards, which have been overlooked in a long time. The scientific and analytic perspective of the paper follows two levels of research. The first level focuses on the general health hazards that are associated with smoking of the e-cigarettes. Generally, the use of the e-cigarettes among the consumers in and out of the United States of America leads to heart-related problems. In the short term, the inhalation of nicotine leads to the rise in the release of the hormone adrenaline. The hormone leads to the feelings of alertness in the human body, which makes nicotine to be categorized as a stimulant. Adrenaline leads to increase heartbeat and blood pressure, which leads to an increased rate of breathing. The use of e-cigarettes releases nicotine that leads to irritation in the human body. The substances in the vapor emanating the cigarettes lead to irritation of the eyes and the respiratory tract. Significantly, the inhalation of nicotine leads to addiction to e-cigarettes. That fact leads the researchers into the details of the addiction as a process, which ushers the paper into the level 2 research question. Nicotine individually leads to the release of the hormone dopamine, which leads to pleasurable feelings and sensations that are associated with the use of e-cigarettes. The feelings of pleasure and satisfaction lead to the continued use of nicotine. Over time, the users of e-cigarettes, due to the constant exposure to nicotine, find it hard to desist from the use of nicotine since they already depend on it to evoke feelings of pleasure and calmness. In that way, the e-cigarettes contribute to the health hazards of smoking.
Level 1 Research Question
What are the hazards associated with smoking e-cigarettes?
As soon as the e-cigarettes arrived in the United States of America more than a decade ago, many cigarettes addicts have stopped smoking regular cigarettes and preferred to use the e-cigarettes. Research performed concerning the e-cigarettes described them as fit for the consumption even by the young adults. Moreover, it was once reported that e-cigarettes would be the perfect form of cigarettes that addicts fighting addiction would consume on their path to rehabilitation (Kvasnicka, Siedler & Ziebarth, 2018). Nonetheless, more in-depth research has connected the use of e-cigarettes to the various health hazards among the people smoking. According to the researchers, the use of e-cigarettes accelerates the rate of heart infections (Kvasnicka, Siedler & Ziebarth, 2018). Although the use of e-cigarettes has been said to be safe for the consumers since there is no tobacco involved, there is some content of nicotine that is known to lead to heart attacks with the continuous consumption of the substance. Therefore, the same effects as the regular cigarettes cause are what the e-cigarettes cause.
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The use of e-cigarettes irritates the consumer's eyes and their respiratory tracts (Kvasnicka, Siedler & Ziebarth, 2018). Even with the e-cigarettes lacking tobacco contents such as the conventional cigarettes, they contain formaldehyde. Formaldehyde irritates the throat, eyes, and the noses of the smokers. Extensive research into the substances that make up the e-cigarettes concluded that propylene glycol leads to the irritation of the eyes as well as the respiratory tracts of the smokers (Kvasnicka, Siedler & Ziebarth, 2018). Additionally, propylene glycol alters the normal functioning of the central nervous system and the spleen in the bodies of the smokers. The low nicotine content found in the e-cigarettes leads to the dizziness, nausea, and vomiting often among the new users of the substances (Kvasnicka, Siedler & Ziebarth, 2018). The irritation of the eyes as wells as the respiratory tracts of the users of e-cigarettes lead to the other associated problems such as the effects on the central nervous system, which coordinates the various body functions. Thus, in the long run, the smokers of the e-cigarettes end up having more associated health issues.
The continued use of e-cigarettes triggers the users' brain to release dopamine, which is a substance that leads to the addiction to the drug (Friedman, 2015). It is essential to note that even though the e-cigarettes have been said to be safer for the smokers and have been said to have lower nicotine content, the level of nicotine in the e-cigarettes also leads to varying levels of addiction (Friedman, 2015). The nicotine rush that the users of e-cigarettes have led to the release of dopamine throughout the bodies of the drug abusers, which leads to the rise in the addiction to the drug (Friedman, 2015). The belief that the e-cigarettes are less hazardous compared to the regular cigarettes leads to the continued use of the substances, which promotes the addiction as a problem faced by the new and accustomed smokers.
Level 2 Research Question
How does the human body get addicted to the use of e-cigarettes as one of the adverse health effects of smoking?
Nicotine is part of the most addictive substances that make up cigarettes. The process of addiction to the use of nicotine follows a physical, psychological stream, which makes the abuser even more hooked to the drug (Volkow, Koob & McLellan, 2016). Each time that a smoker lights up the cigarette, nicotine and the other chemicals in the e-cigarettes, found in the cigarette smoke, enter the human body through the respiratory tract and are absorbed into the bloodstream (Volkow, Koob & McLellan, 2016). According to the researchers on addiction, nicotine travels faster to the brain than the other drugs that the users are exposed to in the drug abuse phase. In the short term, nicotine affects many bodily functions including metabolism, increase in the rate of heartbeat, increase in the blood pressure and the tightening of the veins in the body that restricts the free flow of blood (Volkow, Koob & McLellan, 2016). The new smokers usually experience such effects as they advance in their level of addiction with the continued exposure to nicotine found in the e-cigarettes.
Nicotine is classified as a stimulant. It activates the nervous system to release the various hormones in the body that have multifaceted effects on the brain as well as the other parts of the body. One of the hormones that nicotine helps to release is adrenaline (Levin, Hall & Rezvani, 2015). Adrenaline is linked with the stimulation of the body, and the user with an increase in the release of adrenaline stays alert. Adrenaline also increases blood pressure and fastens the heartbeat. Nicotine affects the brain by making the consumer of the e-cigarettes to feel happier and more contented (Levin, Hall & Rezvani, 2015). The effect is as a result of the release of dopamine, a hormone in the human body. Many scientists in and out of the united states of America think that the release of hormone dopamine when nicotine is inhaled is the source of the pleasure that smoker experience as they inhale the nicotine from the e-cigarettes.
Dopamine also leads to the feelings of calmness and relaxation, which the smokers associate, with the use of e-cigarettes. To that end, smokers will often consume e-cigarettes when they are stressed to bring about a calming effect on them (Klenowski & Tapper, 2018). That leads to the dependency of the drug. Once inhaled into the human body, nicotine takes about ten seconds to be distributed in the human body. The pleasurable feelings that one has after smoking occur almost immediately (Klenowski & Tapper, 2018). However, the ability to feel pleasurable among the smokers of e-cigarettes weakens over time, and they find themselves needing to smoke now and then to sustain the good feelings that they derive from smoking (Klenowski & Tapper, 2018). That is how addiction builds up, and with time, the users cannot derive any form of happiness or pleasure without smoking. The addiction gradually leads to a smoking habit that gets to a point where it is irrevocable.
Conclusion
The use of e-cigarettes has been controversial in the United States of America and other countries across the world. Compared to the conventional cigarettes, the e-cigarettes have been labeled as less harmful to the health of the smokers. Notwithstanding, the use of e-cigarettes has been found by the researchers to detriment the health and wellbeing of the users from the various parts of the world. Some of the health hazards that have been associated with smoking are as follows. The use of e-cigarettes is known to lead to irritation among the consumers. The eyes and the respiratory tract are some of the parts of the human body that are affected. The substances that are contained in the vapor of the e-cigarettes are responsible for the irritation in the human body. The smoking of e-cigarettes also leads to the increase in the exposure to the heart issues such as increased blood pressure, increased rate of heartbeat and the tightening of the veins, which adversely affects the blood flow in the human body. Majorly, the use of nicotine has been connected with the increase in the addiction levels in the human body. Continued use of nicotine in electronic cigarettes leads to the release of the hormone dopamine, which leads to an increase in the addiction levels. Nicotine leads to the release of the hormone adrenaline, which leads to alertness in the human being that consumes the e-cigarettes. That makes nicotine be classified as a stimulant. The level 1 research question focuses on the adverse effects of the smoking of e-cigarettes among the consumers who are likely to develop the habit of smoking. The level 2 research questions further look into the addiction to nicotine as a problem that the e-cigarettes cause in the human body. Researchers focus more profound on the process of addiction and how it takes place in the human brain than in the level 1 research.
References
Friedman, A. S. (2015). How Does Electronic Cigarette Access Affect Adolescent Smoking?.
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Kvasnicka, M., Siedler, T., & Ziebarth, N. R. (2018). The Health Effects of Smoking Bans:
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Levin, E. D., Hall, B. J., & Rezvani, A. H. (2015). Heterogeneity Across Brain Regions and
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Volkow, N. D., Koob, G. F., & McLellan, A. T. (2016). Neurobiologic Advances From the Brain
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