--- title: "Vaping Linked to Mental Health Issues" description: "Vaping is nearly as bad for one's body as smoking cigarettes — and new research indicates it may be harmful to mental health and sleep, too." date: "2024-03-09" modified: "2024-03-09" authors: - name: "Noor Al-Sibai" job_title: "Senior Staff Writer" link: "https://futurism.com/authors/nooralsibai" url: "https://futurism.com/neoscope/vaping-mental-health-sleep" categories: - "Brain" - "Health & Medicine" - "Mental Health" tags: - "mental health" - "sleep" - "vapes" - "vaping" --- # Vaping Linked to Mental Health Issues ![Vaping is nearly as bad for one's body as smoking cigarettes — and new research indicates it may be harmful to mental health and sleep, too.]() *\Image: Getty / Futurism\* Vaping might not be as unhealthy as smoking cigarettes, but it carries its own [long list of physical risks](). And now, new research indicates it may be harmful to mental health and sleep patterns, too. As researchers from [England's University of Surrey have found](), young adults aged 18-25 who use nicotine vape products were significantly more likely to experience a range of mental health issues than their non-vaping peers, including depression, anxiety, and rumination or dwelling on negative thoughts, as well as sleep issues like insomnia and emotional problems such as loneliness. Published [in the journal *Healthcare*](), this new study surveyed more than 300 university students, about 15 percent of whom did vape and the other 85 percent of whom didn't, using a battery of questionnaires related to mindfulness and emotional regulation, anxiety and depression, rumination, sleep quality, loneliness, self-compassion — and, of course, vaping and cigarette usage. Of the 49 students who were vape users, there were some traits seen across the board, including lower levels of mindfulness, worse sleep quality, and heightened levels of rumination. They tended to be lonelier and have both less compassion for themselves and a much higher tendency of being diurnal or "night owls" than their non-vaping counterparts. Furthermore, the vape group also "reported significantly higher levels of alcohol consumption in terms of units consumed per week," the study notes. Perhaps the biggest shared characteristic among the vaping group, as Surrey neuroscience lecturer and study co-author Dr. Simon Evans said in the university's press release, was an overwhelming tendency towards anxiety, with a whopping "95.9 percent of users being categorized as having clinical levels of anxiety symptoms." "In this study, we found a disturbing link between vape use and anxiety symptoms," Evans continued, "and it can become a vicious cycle of using a vape to soothe anxiety but then being unable to sleep, making you feel worse in the long run." With [data from other studies]() about cigarette smoking suggesting that mindfulness, or the attenuation to one's emotional and mental regulation in the moment, [can help with smoking cessation](), the good doctor said that there may well be interventions regarding mindfulness and "combating rumination" that "could be useful to reduce vape use amongst young people." Important to note: this is a type of research where it's very hard to pin down the relationship between correlation and causation. Are the students anxious because they're vaping, or do anxious kids tend to gravitate to vaping for a variety of social and psychological reasons? It's tough to say, and probably complicated. That said, it's pretty amazing that such a small percentage of the youthful group surveyed for this study vaped at all, suggesting that the kids may be more alright than we give them credit for, relatively speaking. **More on mental health:** [*Scientists Find Link Between ADHD, Depression and Hypersexuality*]() ## Author At Futurism, I've often been drawn to unpacking the narratives that underlie technological, scientific and medical progress, with a special interest in areas of conflict and ambiguity that end up setting agendas and steering the fates of both elites and the hoi polloi. I'm a committed generalist, but I often find myself returning to work involving NASA and the private space sector, the effects of AI on media and society, and the mechanics of the pharmaceutical industry, with a specific focus on the spread of GLP-1 drugs like Ozempic and Wegovy. Prior to Futurism, I worked for publications ranging from Media Matters and Truthdig to Raw Story and Bustle. I'm also the author of "Myspace Scene Queens," a 2024 title in Instar Books' acclaimed "Remember the Internet" series. My work at Futurism has been cited by outlets including the New Yorker, Slate, Nieman Lab, the Verge, the MIT Technology Review, the Sunday Times, and the Daily Beast. I grew up in North Carolina, attended the University of North Carolina at Asheville, and now live in Brooklyn, New York. In my free time, I'm an avid reader and music fan; you can probably find me at a local poetry reading, concert, underground rave, or DJ set. I'm the proud parent of an ineffable orange cat named Mee-Mow. ### Author social links [Bluesky]()