Immediate Effects
After vaping, does your heart beat faster or slower?
Faster. Vaping for just 20 minutes significantly raises heart rate because nicotine releases norepinephrine, increasing the heart's oxygen demand.
Nicotine use affects your brain's ability to focus and remember things by: improving it short term, having no effect, or shutting it down completely?
KEY WORD: SHORT TERM - Improving it short term. This is why it is so addictive. But Long term Nicotine decreases memory which is why it is so dangerous.
Compared to smoking, chewing tobacco gives you: lower cancer risk, higher cancer risk, or the same cancer risk?
Higher Cancer Risk. Smokeless tobacco contains cancer-causing chemicals produced during growing and curing. They increase lifetime cancer risk — they don't reduce it.
How fast does nicotine reach your brain after inhaling: within seconds, within an hour, or the next day?
Nicotine reaches the brain in about 10 seconds after inhaling.
Vape aerosol actually contains: just water vapor, nicotine and harmful chemicals, or only flavoring?
Vape aerosol is not just water vapor — it contains nicotine, heavy metals, and other harmful chemicals.
Does vaping increase or decrease the level of oxygen in your blood?
Decrease. Vaping lowers blood oxygen due to changes in breathing patterns, increased heart oxygen demand, and altered blood flow.
Can vaping weaken your sense of taste over time?
Yes. Vaping decreases blood flow to taste buds, weakening the sense of taste over months.
Does smoking increase or decrease your risk of developing stomach ulcers (internal stomach wounds)?
Increase. Smoking raises the risk of a bacterial infection that is a primary cause of stomach ulcers.
True or false: Nicotine addiction can only happen to adults, not teenagers.
False. Teen brains are actually more vulnerable to nicotine addiction than adult brains because they are still developing.
To get addicted to nicotine you need to use it: every day, occasionally or even just sometimes, or only for years?
Occasionally or even just sometimes. Nicotine is highly addictive and dependence can develop quickly, even with occasional use.
hat feeling does nicotine give your brain right after using it — happy, sad, or nothing?
Happy. Nicotine triggers release of dopamine and serotonin, producing an immediate happiness feeling— a key reason it's so addictive.
Does smoking increase or decrease your risk of heartburn and acid reflux (GERD)?
Increase. Smoking weakens the esophageal sphincter, the muscle separating the throat from the stomach, allowing stomach acid to come back up.
Long term smoking affects your hearing by: improving it, having no effect, or decreasing it?
Decreasing your ability to hear. Long-term smoking reduces oxygen to the cochlea (inner ear), leading to decreased hearing ability over time.
If you use nicotine regularly, over time you need: more, less, or the same amount to feel the same effect?
More, over time the brain adapts and needs more nicotine to produce the same effect — this is called tolerance.
Compared to unflavored vapes, flavored vapes contain: fewer harmful chemicals, the same harmful chemicals plus extra ones from flavoring, or no nicotine?
The same harmful chemicals plus extra ones from flavoring.
Flavored vapes still contain nicotine and many of the same harmful chemicals as unflavored ones. The flavoring adds additional chemicals on top of that.
If you vaped before gym class, would your athletic performance stay the same, get better, or get worse?
Get worse. Vaping reduces available blood oxygen immediately, increasing lactic acid buildup, making muscles sore faster and causing quicker fatigue.
Over time, regular nicotine use makes anxiety: better, worse, or have no effect?
Worse, long-term nicotine use reduces the brain's natural serotonin and oxytocin production, raising baseline anxiety.
Long term smoking affects your skin by: making it look younger, speeding up wrinkles and aging, or only affecting people over 50?
Speeding up wrinkles and aging
Who is MORE vulnerable to nicotine addiction: adults, teenagers, or both equally?
Teenagers! Your brains are still developing!
Secondhand smoke affects: only the person smoking, people nearby but not pets, or both people and pets?
BOTH - Pets and People
Vaping lowers your blood oxygen AND increases your heart rate. Name TWO ways this could affect you during gym class or a sport.
You get tired faster, your muscles feel sore quicker, you get out of breath sooner, or you can't run as long as your friends.
Nicotine makes it harder for your body to heal. Give ONE reason why this matters more for a teenager than for someone who is done growing.
Teen bodies are still growing and need to heal well. If you get hurt playing sports or just from everyday life, your body needs to repair itself quickly and nicotine gets in the way of that.
Smoking can damage your skin, your bones, AND increase cancer risk. What is one thing these three effects have in common?
In all three cases, smoking is stopping the body from taking care of itself and staying healthy.
Teen brains are still growing until age 25. Why might nicotine be MORE dangerous for a 13-year-old's brain than a 30-year-old's brain?
A still-developing brain is more easily changed by nicotine, making it easier to get addicted and harder to quit.
Your friend says "I only vape sometimes so I won't get addicted." Give ONE reason why that's not necessarily true.
Nicotine is highly addictive and even occasional use can start to rewire the brain, especially in teenagers whose brains are still developing.