Vaping carries a number of health risks, including dehydration. Drinking water may offset excessive thirst.

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With vaping, people use a handheld device to inhale aerosolized vapors. These vapors can contain any number of chemicals or substances, but they typically include nicotine. This is why many people vape as an alternative to smoking traditional cigarettes.

Using a vape pen carries many of the same risks as regular cigarette smoking, and maybe more. This article will explore how vaping affects the fluid balance in your body and whether or not using a vape pen can make you feel dehydrated.

A lot of factors can be involved with dehydration. Nicotine use is associated with dehydration in several ways, including how it impacts your body’s fluid and electrolyte balance.

It also affects your respiratory, cardiovascular, circulatory, and neurologic systems, and each of these plays a role in the movement of fluids throughout your body.

Vaping can make use of all kinds of substances, including nicotine. E-cigarette liquid that contains nicotine can cause changes to your heart rate, blood pressure, breathing, and other vital functions.

On its own, nicotine can cause dehydration, and even vaping nicotine-free vapors can pose health risks including — but not limited to — dehydration.

Some studies have examined the effect of vaping liquid that contains no nicotine. They found that vaping nicotine-free liquids with different flavors and chemicals has health risks ranging from reproductive problems to vital sign changes.

There is little specific information on dehydration with cigarettes versus vaping specifically. However, recent research makes it clear that vaping is not the safe alternative to cigarette smoking that people once thought it was.

On its own, nicotine can cause dehydration. This means that consuming nicotine, through either a cigarette or a vape pen, can cause dehydration that leads to increased thirst. Dehydration alongside the other effects of vaping and nicotine could amplify the effects.

As with any activity that increases your risk of dehydration, drinking water while vaping can offset thirst and other problems.

It’s important to stay hydrated regardless of whether you vape.

Dehydration isn’t the biggest risk when it comes to vaping. Although people once saw vaping as a safer alternative to cigarette smoking, experts now say that it carries a lot of its own risks. These include:

  • lung damage
  • fires and explosions from vaping devices
  • intoxication or poisoning with vaping liquid
  • cardiovascular disease

Vaping isn’t a “safe” alternative to smoking. The liquid that’s vaporized in these devices, usually nicotine, has the same chemical properties as the nicotine in cigarettes and can produce the same negative health effects. Nicotine can affect your heart rate and blood pressure, and it can even cause dehydration.

Some vaping enthusiasts suggest increased water intake to offset the dehydration that vaping can cause.

If you’re experiencing negative side effects or want assistance in quitting vaping, you can ask your healthcare team for help.