Case study: The Benefits Of Using An Electronic Cigarette

My name is Margaret and I had been a smoker for over twenty years of my life, and probably smoked around twenty cigarettes a day. I knew it was an awful habit, but with my husband smoking as well, it was always too difficult to give up.

I tried to quit a few times, usually as a New Year resolution where I would half-heartedly promise that I would give up the following year, but never followed through. It was always a couple of days later when I would reach for another packet and forget all about any resolution I had made.

It was last year when it hit home just how bad smoking was for me. I heard some alarming statistics that stopped me in my tracks: one cigarette will cut eleven minutes off your life. As a regular smoker, this cut my life expectancy by seven to eight years. I have been lucky enough not to contract any disease as of yet, but my doctor continuously warned me of the dangers of continuing my habit. My father had died of lung disease from smoking, and one in five smokers were also likely to contract this disease.

I decided I needed an alternative to tobacco and starting buying numerous patches, gums and mints. The cravings were slightly dulled but it was still too hard. I cut down slightly, but not enough. Then I heard about the electronic cigarette. The electronic cigarette is a battery operated inhaler which looks like a normal cigarette. This was helpful because it immediately satisfied my physical habit to hold a cigarette. The inhaler gave me a slight kick of nicotine so my cravings were more enough satisfied, but I was not inhaling the tar or carbon monoxide that other cigarettes gave me.

This meant it was immediately healthier from the first one. The e cigarette has given me the control I needed to cut down my smoking, and a year on I only smoke the electronic cigarette once a day, and sometimes not at all!