Have you been feeling extra stressed since the start of this global pandemic? If you have, you aren’t alone. Combustible cigarette sales have risen for the first time in over two decades and a study from Georgia State University links this increase to the stress that’s been induced by the COVID-19 pandemic. Continue reading to learn more about why traditional smoking is on the rise and why having access to e-cigarettes for sale online is so important.
The study
Life is full of stressful situations—financial, educational, family, etc.—but the pressures associated with the continuation of this pandemic, and the resurgence of cases due to new variants, are leading to added societal tension and anxiety. According to a new study from Georgia State University, this stress has contributed to the sales of combustible cigarettes rising for the first time in over 20 years.
Lucy Popova, an associate professor in GSU’s School of PublicHealth who serves the U.S. Food and Drug (FDA) Administration’s Tobacco Products Scientific Advisory Committee, led the study. She explains that it was aimed at looking into each participant’s experience to gain an understanding of what current and ex-smokers have gone through during the pandemic.
Small sample sizes were used so that each participant was able to tell their personal story. The 61 researchers were divided and paired with three groups of smokers. Two of those groups included people who had not been thinking about quitting combustible cigarettes and/or relied on e-cigarettes for sale while the third included participants who were actively trying to give up nicotine.
What were the results?
Popova said she saw a pattern among stressed-out, bored people who either smoked more than usual or went back to smoking after COVID hit, even though said smokers understood they were at a greater risk of severe lung infection.
“There were a lot of different stories and a lot of experiences, and that’s why qualitative research is so cool as you get to hear those firsthand stories,” she said. “Some people who work and whose job is to tell people not to smoke, when they come home and they no longer have the job, the might be the ones lighting up more often.”
Factors like unemployment, loss of income, and the strain of balancing work and family life from home made quitting tobacco very low on the list of vices to tackle, the study found. While people who smoke to relieve stress expressed short-term relief, the long-term reality is that smoking is more likely to lead to depressioe-n and higher stress levels.
Restricting access to e-cigarettes for sale online is damaging to those who’re trying to quit smoking for good and to those who rely on these life-saving products to help them lower their nicotine levels, especially under stressful circumstances.
Have you struggled with managing stress throughout this pandemic? Tell us all about it in the comments section below.
