New Quit Smoking Survey Results
New evidence has been presented from a survey in the Netherlands that looked at the habits of Dutch ex-smokers. It found that electronic cigarettes are really effective as a smoking cessation option, adding to the research that proves vaping helps smokers quit and remain tobacco-free.
The work was conducted by consumer advocacy group Acvoda and electronic cigarette trade group Esigbond. The survey quizzed over 3000 people who used to smoke but have now successfully switched to vaping instead.
Acvoda and Esigbond discovered that over 75% of those responding said that they believed they would still be smoking if they hadn’t discovered flavoured e-cigs.
The consumer group and trade body also discovered that the journey to smoke-free status was not an easy one. Until they discovered electronic cigarettes, the respondents had attempted (on average) five unsuccessful quit attempts first.
Currently, there are 400,000 vapers in the Netherlands, and they all cited that the main reason they wanted to switch to vaping was to reduce their level of harm exposure. In 2015, Public Health England said ecigs are at least 95% safer than smoking – and this figure has been accepted by all of the United Kingdom’s public health bodies.
Breaking down the full list of reasons, over 60% wanted to continue using a nicotine product but wanted to do it more safely than continuing to smoke. Over half wanted to make the switch to electronic cigarettes because they disliked smoking but felt unable to quit using traditional methods.
Over 80% of the respondents said they doubted they would have been able to successfully quit were it not for electronic cigarettes and flavoured e-liquids. Moreover, they rejoiced in finding vaping because almost all of the respondents reported that they had noticed demonstrable improvements in their health since switching to vaping.
Esigbond chairman Emil ‘t Hart said: “This study shows that many ex-smokers would actually continue to smoke if it were not for the e-cigarette. Flavours explain part of the success, as for many quitters, the flavours are essential in switching from the regular cigarette to the less harmful e-cigarette. This research shows that the e-cigarette deserves a place in anti-smoking policy and that it is very unwise to make the e-cigarette unattractive by banning flavours.”
When it comes to the health improvements recorded by the survey, al most three quarters of respondents said that they coughed much less frequently. Around 70% of the ex-smokers said that they felt fitter and had an all-round improvement in their condition.
A striking 64% of people reported that their sense of smell and taste had drastically improved from when they used to smoke, and around the same number of people said they no longer fell short of breath when doing regular activities thanks to ecigs.
Combined with the independent evidence being amassed at British universities, it continues to become clearer that vaping really does work as a quit smoking tool.
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