Vapers have a wide variety of reasons to start vaping – some use their vaporizers as an alternative to the traditional tobacco cigarettes; others enjoy the wonderful taste of the different e-liquids; others still simply start buying vape juice online because they think it’s cool. But regardless of the personal vaping preferences or the reason for starting the habit, there’s one thing that almost all vapers agree on – vape juice calms you down.
A good vape session with your tank filled with your favorite e-liquid can take away all your worries, banish all your negative thoughts, and leave you feeling calm and relaxed. Or can it? Is there an ingredient in the vape juice that can alleviate stress and anxiety, or is it all in your head? Let’s take a look to find out.
Nicotine and Its Effects on Your Mental State
If you’re buying your vape juice from a reputable vendor, the liquid will have only a few ingredients – water, PG/VG, flavorings, and nicotine. Besides nicotine, none of these ingredients impact your mental state much. Water makes the e-liquid a bit less viscous, PG and VG are used to give you a throat punch and a satisfying vapor production, and flavorings make your vape juice taste like heaven.
So, the only ingredient in the vape juice that could affect your stress levels or mental state is nicotine.
Many vapers (and traditional tobacco smokers) believe that nicotine can help calm you down, but unfortunately, that’s just a myth. Nicotine often acts as a stimulant; it raises activity levels in your nervous system, makes your heart beat faster, and increases your blood pressure. In short – it increases your stress levels.
Additionally, since inhaling any kind of vapor or smoke could lead to lung damage and cause shortness of breath, inhaling nicotine could trigger an anxiety response or a panic attack.
So, rather than calming you down, nicotine has a higher chance of hyping you up, especially when it’s consumed with your favorite jitter liquid – aka coffee.
Why Do Vapers Claim to Feel Calmer After a Vape Sesh?
If it’s true that nicotine increases anxiety and stress levels, how come so many vapers firmly believe that it helps calm them down? In all likelihood, it’s because of nicotine addiction.
Nicotine is a highly addictive substance that affects both your body and mind, meaning it gets you to develop both physical and mental addiction. Like any addictive substance, it activates your brain’s “reward center” and promotes the release of dopamine – the pleasure hormone. And dopamine can help to alleviate stress.
However, the main reason why you might feel calmer after your vape session is that you’ve satisfied your nicotine craving. If it’s been too long since the last time you got your nicotine hit, you can start feeling irritable, anxious, and moody. In essence, you begin experiencing the first withdrawal symptoms, and they can only be eliminated by taking a draw of your go-to e-liquid.
How Nicotine-Free Vape Juice Affects You
Nicotine-free vape juice is a bit different. Without nicotine, e-liquid isn’t addictive, so there’s no craving that you can satiate to feel better, there’s no dopamine release, and you don’t need vape juice. Instead, you want it.
Many vapers develop what’s known as an oral fixation – you’ve gotten used to the simple act of holding your vaporizer, bringing it to your lips, and taking a draw. It’s a small ritual that brings comfort and helps you feel more relaxed.
Vaping can also be a form of aromatherapy. Nicotine-free e-liquids still have thousands of different flavorings that can quickly fill the room with a wonderful, relaxing aroma that almost completely alleviates your anxiety.
And if you’re a “social vaper,” you might simply be getting your stress relief from hanging out with friends.
Vape Juices That DO Calm You Down
While regular vape juices offer stress relief mostly because of the placebo effects and dopamine release, there are vape juices whose ingredients can actually help calm you down – physically and mentally. The most popular is CBD vape juices.
CBD is a cannabinoid derived from the hemp plant. It’s not addictive, and it’s not psychoactive. It’s a perfectly safe hemp extract that could bring an abundance of therapeutic benefits.
Most CBD consumers use the extract for its anxiolytic or anti-anxiety effects. CBD can alleviate physical and mental symptoms of anxiety, including sweating, shaking, memory problems, nausea, panic, and more.
And while CBD comes in many shapes and forms, it’s most popular in the form of vape juice.
Final Thoughts
Although there are only a few physical reasons why vaping might help you feel calmer, there are plenty of psychological reasons for it. So, to answer the previous question: “Is there an ingredient in the vape juice that can alleviate stress and anxiety, or is it all in your head?” – it’s mostly in your head, but that’s where most of the stress is, anyway.
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