Does your vape actually relax you? The truth about stress when you quit vaping.

You've had a stressful day. That meeting ran over and your shoulders are tight. Your mind is racing with action points weighing down your to-do list, which you  could frankly do without. You reach for your vape and within seconds, you feel calmer.

The vape is working, right?

What if I told you it's not the nicotine doing that?

How true is it that vaping relaxes you?

What Nicotine is doing to your body

Here's the uncomfortable truth: nicotine is a stimulant, not a relaxant.

When you inhale nicotine, your body responds by:

• Increasing your heart rate

• Raising your blood pressure

• Triggering adrenaline release

• Activating your sympathetic nervous system (your stress response)
  

Physiologically, nicotine creates the same response in your body as stress itself. It's putting your system into a state of arousal, not calm.

So why does it feel like it's relaxing you?

The withdrawal-relief cycle

The answer lies in a cycle most people don't realise they're in.

Within 20-30 minutes of vaping, nicotine levels in your blood start to drop. Your body begins to experience the early stages of withdrawal - a subtle but persistent feeling of tension, restlessness and sometimes irritability.

When you vape again, you're not relieving stress. You're easing the nicotine withdrawal.

 The vape isn't making you calmer than you were before you started vaping. It's returning you to the baseline you had before nicotine created the need.

One person quitting vaping explained to me, "I realised I felt stressed whenever I didn't have my vape. I wasn't managing stress. I was managing withdrawal."

You're essentially medicating a problem the vape created in the first place.

How much of a crutch is your vaping device?

The real reason you feel calmer: Is your breath

Here's what's actually happening when you vape and feel that sense of calm:

You're taking a slow, deep inhalation. You're holding it briefly. You're releasing it in a controlled exhalation.

That manipulation of the breath – long slow inhalation, a hold and the long slow exhalation - is what's triggering the relaxation response in your body.

When you breathe slowly and deeply, extending the exhalation, you stimulate the Vagus nerve, which runs from your brain to your abdomen. This activates your parasympathetic nervous system - your body's natural "rest and digest" mode. Your heart rate slows. Your blood pressure drops. Your muscles relax. Stress hormones decrease.

It isn’t your vaping creating the feeling of calm. It’s the physiology of the breath.

The nicotine delivery mechanism - the inhale, the pause, the exhale - happens to mimic one of the most effective stress-reduction techniques we know: controlled breathing.

You've been self-regulating all along. You just maybe didn't realise the tool was your breath, not the device.

Why this matters when you're under pressure

If you're a professional managing sustained pressure - tight deadlines, difficult conversations, constant decision-making – have you ever found yourself relying on your vape as a coping mechanism?

Here's the hidden cost:

The very thing you're using to manage stress is starting to control you. Watch out that the limiting belief that you need your device to cope doesn't become your reality.

Let’s look at it differently, and that what you're actually craving in those moments isn't the nicotine. Rather, it's the chance to take a break, have a breather and briefly step away from the demands that you are facing.

And you can still have all of that without the device.

Breathing techniques are skills for life

Breathing techniques that create calm (without the vape)

You’ve probably actually been practising this style of breathing every time you vape. Let’s try it without the nicotine and see how effective it is.

Here's a simple technique that replicates the same physiological response:

Box Breathing (4-4-4-4)

• Breathe in slowly through your nose for 4 counts

• Hold your breath for 4 counts

• Exhale slowly through your mouth for 4 counts

• Hold empty for 4 counts

• Repeat 3-4 times

  
  

You can do this anywhere. In a meeting. At your desk. Before a presentation. In the car. No device needed. No stepping outside. No planning. No one knows you are doing it.

It works because it's activating the same nervous system response the vaping breath pattern was triggering - except now, you're not simultaneously flooding your system with a stimulant.

The calm response is totally natural. Not relief from withdrawal.

What people notice when they switch

When people start using breathwork instead of vaping to manage stress, they integrate multiple benefits:

The feelings of calm lasts longer. There's no rebound anxiety 20 minutes later when nicotine levels drop. So no reaching for the device again an hour later.

One person told me: "I didn't realise how much the vape was actually making me more anxious until I stopped. I thought I was calmer with it. I was wrong."

You also regain your autonomy and the ability to regulate yourself anywhere, anytime, without needing a charged device or worrying about where you can use it.

Imagine freedom from your device and vaping supplies

Making the switch: What to expect

I won't pretend the first few days of quitting are easy. You're disrupting a deeply ingrained pattern.

Your brain has learned that responding to stress with a vape will deliver relief. Breaking that connection now takes intention.

And here's what happens when you replace the vape with breath:

You start to trust yourself. You realise you can handle pressure without self-medicating it, feel more in control and able to self-regulate your nervous system.

The vape wasn’t helping manage your stress. Vaping had become a habit and it felt like you depended on it. However there are so  many healthy habits to replace vaping that not only are natural, but you’ll also enjoy and before long, you will find that you have changed your life.

You don't need a vaping device to create calm and relaxation. And you’ll feel better when you throw it away. When you quit vaping or smoking, 93% of nicotine leaves your body within 12 hours and the healing process begins straight away. To find out what happens to your body when you quit nicotine, read this article about what your body goes through and how to make it easier.

If you're ready to quit vaping and want support through the process, I’m here to help you break free from nicotine dependence. Book a free 30-minute chat to discuss how hypnotherapy can help.

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Want to understand the secrets of hypnotherapy and how it can support you? Download my free introduction guide to freeing yourself from unhelpful habits.

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Author: Liza Patoux, Clinical Hypnotherapist - Elizian Days offers personalised health and workplace wellbeing strategies, to professionals managing stress or health challenges affecting their work-life balance. If you would like to speak to someone about quitting vaping or your own personal wellbeing and self-care plan, please email Liza@ElizianDays.com  to arrange a confidential call.