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Everything you wanted to know about the effects of smoking, including juuling, e-cigarettes, vaping, and more.

How to best keep the peace with the people you live with.

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When e-cigarettes hit the market 10 years ago, they were advertised as a clean, safe alternative to traditional smoking. To some extent, that’s likely true; they do seem cleaner and safer, and they may prove helpful to smokers who are trying to quit. That said, they may also carry some health risks of their own. If this evaluation sounds noncommittal, it is—scientists and federal regulators are still duking it out, and the research on e-cigarettes (vaping) is in its early stages. Here’s what we know so far:

What are e-cigarettes?

How many young people are vaping?

Could e-cigarettes harm my health?

Do e-cigarettes help smokers quit or create new smokers?

Could my vaping harm people around me?

Why don’t we have better answers on how e-cigarettes may affect health?

Are e-cigarettes regulated by the government?

Could I get addicted to e-cigarettes?

Ready to quit? You can do this

November 17 is the Great American Smokeout, and there’s extra support available for quitting smoking.

Trying to quit without a plan can leave you without a way to cope when you get cravings. You’re more likely to succeed with a structured approach, says Smokefree.gov, a governmental resource for all things tobacco-free. Ask your health care provider for tools and strategies that have been evaluated in studies and shown to be successful. To get started, click on these links:

Principles for successfully quitting

Steps in your tobacco liberation movement include:

• Choosing the date you’re ridding yourself of tobacco.
• Telling friends and family about it for support and to make you accountable.
• Giving your environment a makeover:  Remove cigarettes, ashtrays, and anything that makes you think about smoking. Find alternatives to help you replace the habit, especially when you have cravings (e.g., healthy snack food, such as carrots or popcorn, or an assortment of delicious teas).

To quit permanently, your strategy has to be sustainable:

• Look for life changes that you can live with; for ideas, check out former smokers’ strategies.
• Make a list of things that are important to you and aim to keep doing them after quitting. This might mean spending more time with friends or pursuing your own goals, like joining the track team.

Quitting strategies that work

In studies, these tobacco cessation approaches have been shown to be helpful. For professional support, talk to a doctor or counselor about what has been shown to work best.

• “Motivational interviewing” is a specialist counseling approach that helps you come up with your own solutions. In a 2015 Cochrane review of 28 studies, motivational interviewing with health professionals was more successful in helping people quit smoking than traditional health advice. Single, brief sessions appeared effective for quitting.

• Dialectical Behavioral Therapy (DBT) is a form of cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT). The “dialectical” piece refers to two valid but opposing thoughts: (e.g., “I want to quit smoking” and “I would feel calmer right now if I had a cigarette”). DBT helps us understand our own stress triggers and develop effective self-soothing techniques. Mindfulness techniques are a foundational skill of DBT.

• Nicotine replacement therapy (e.g., gum) or prescription medications (e.g., bupropion). In studies, using one of these two substances helped 80 percent more people to quit compared to a placebo, according to the Cochrane Collaboration, which reviews medical research.

• Stress-busting alternatives help you avoid “just one” cigarette when you have a bad craving. One cigarette tends to lead to more, according to the Mayo Clinic.

• Text-message, Twitter, or email program for regular quitting tips and support. Cessation programs delivered through Twitter can help keep people on track, evidence suggests.

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Some call college the best time of your life. It can also be the most stressful. Is it worth it? Yes. Now more than ever, you need a degree. Bachelor-degree earners make about $1,100 a week, while those who finished only some college make about $740 a week, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

• If you’re questioning whether college is for you, what’s not working? Finances? Time? Grades? Personal issues? Then think about your academic and career goals. What would it take for you to make progress in this (or another) college environment?
• “Move away from big resolutions. Instead, think about competing commitments that are getting in the way and how to resolve those conflicts,” says Dr. Luoluo Hong, vice president for student affairs & enrollment management, San Francisco State University, California.
• Know what academic, health, counseling, career, and social supports are available. In a recent CampusWell survey, college students’ most recurring regret was not taking advantage of campus resources sooner.

1. School better have my money

When money may be a deal breaker, get guidance from the right sources (e.g., a financial aid advisor or the sites recommended below). “You don’t want to (by default) seek financial advice from people who aren’t financial experts just because they’re your parents or friends,” says Zac Bissonnette, author of Debt-Free U: How I Paid for an Outstanding College Education Without Loans, Scholarships, or Mooching Off My Parents (Portfolio, 2010).

How to get a handle on your finances

2. Scandalous scholastics

Almost every student has moments of academic failure. “Students who get knocked off their feet academically need to know that they are not alone and that there is help,” says Amy Baldwin, director of University College at the University of Central Arkansas.

How to get a grip on academics

3. Better together

“The key to staying in college is making sure you take advantage of as many opportunities as possible to integrate yourself with your campus both academically and socially,” says Dr. Luoluo Hong, vice president for student affairs & enrollment management at San Francisco State University.

How to feel like you’re a part of it

4. Find your fight song

Hang in there if you can, maybe with the help of a short-term leave. Students who leave college and return later in life may have to navigate additional challenges, according to a 2014 study of 4.5 million “non-first-time” students.

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A few years ago, they were rarely seen in the wild. Now you can find them next to the Blow Pops in gas stations. They’re E-cigarettes, and they got popular fast. Researchers are scrambling to determine the health impact of these gizmos, which emit vapor laced with chemicals—including nicotine—when users inhale.

Can E-cigarettes help you kick butts?

The pencil-sized machines are marketed as a convenient alternative to lighting up—and as a tool to help folks quit tobacco. With the Great American Smokeout on November 20, if you’re a smoker, you might be eager to join the 88 percent of college students who have not smoked in the last month. Can E-cigarettes really help you kick the butts?

Mixed findings

Few studies have addressed the question, and findings are mixed. But we do know that nicotine—which E-cigarettes deliver in varying doses—is bad. The drug can contribute to heart disease, cause complications during pregnancy, and act as a “tumor promoter,” the World Health Organization wrote in July.

Nicotine also has the potential to harm brain development among young people. That includes—please cancel your trip to Denial—college students.

Still, E-cigarettes are far less abrasive to your lungs than plumes of cigarette smoke, so they may be significantly less harmful. But we’re not sure.

In any event, “vapers” must be wary of nicotine overdose, which can result in bad things like vomiting, confusion, and seizures, according tothe US National Library of Medicine. (Users should keep E-cigs away from young children, who–being teeny-tiny–can overdose more easily.)

Bottom line

Bottom line, as we await more research: We should consider E-cigs a cousin of a pack of cigarettes. Stick to those Blow Pops.

Hold on—I gotta check Facebook just one more time before I finish this sentence. OK, I’m back. So! Procrastination: It’s bad.

Most of us want to be efficient, but time after time we find the day melting away as we watch “just one more” TV episode or click on “just one more” video of baby animals.

Good news! Procrastination isn’t just in your head. Experts have found that making some tweaks to the way you work can make it easier to buckle down.

Breaking up is easy to do

A task can seem easier if you break it into small segments, says Dr. Jesse Crosby, a psychologist at Harvard Medical School. Try doing one bit a day, and start small.

“I always feel I can do anything for five minutes, so I set a timer,” Gail McMeekin, author of The 12 Secrets of Highly Creative Women, told WebMD. “Once I start, I usually go over five minutes and may finish the job.”

Crack the door

Completing just a small part of a project creates momentum and helps dispel fears that a given task is too difficult or complex. Think of that quote from the ancient Chinese philosopher Laozi: “A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.” After you take a single step on that assignment, you’re moving.

Buddy up

Working with others can hold you accountable for making steady progress, says Gail McMeekin. Be sure, though, to discuss with a professor what sort of teamwork is kosher. You don’t want to be accused of cheating or plagiarism.

Find a Hermione

Find someone who’s consistently proactive, and stick close to that person. You could soak up some of his or her good habits. “Surround yourself with people who are doers,” Joseph Ferrari, a DePaul University psychology professor, told US News & World Report.

Ready to feel empowered? Next month could kick-off an era of Millennial political dominance. People born between 1980 and 2000 make up the largest generation in American history, and now that most of us can vote, we could prove pivotal to this year’s midterm elections.

Midterms are often unfairly written off as inconsequential placeholders that dot the years between presidential contests. But there’s a bunch at stake this year.

Get this

We Millennials number 80 million in the US—and only slightly more Americans (82.5 million) voted in the 2010 midterms.

Shaking up Congress

As you read this, 468 members of the US Congress are running for re-election, each hoping that young voters will boost them like they boosted now-President Obama in 2008.

Republicans think they can take control of the Senate by capitalizing on Obama’s low popularity. Democrats are hopeful that an improving economy—and a Supreme Court decision that threatens employee access to some forms of birth control—will convince voters to put them back in charge of the House of Representatives.

College costs & environment

Thirty-eight states and territories will elect governors—who play a pivotal role in environmental protections and college affordability.

Minimum wage & marijuana

In a handful of states, including Massachusetts, voters will choose whether to raise the minimum wage. Citizens in Florida and three other states will vote on proposals to loosen restrictions on marijuana, Ballotpedia reports.

Students pushing for change

In New York City, students have joined parents and teachers to protest the Common Core education standards. In North Carolina, students established the #DebtFreeUNC campaign for fairer student loan terms. They delivered more than 18,000 red squares—each representing a University of North Carolina graduate with loan debt—to the governor and to a leading candidate for the US Senate, The Nation reported.

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It’s four in the morning, and you’re triple-checking the verb tense of a Spanish assignment. You don’t hand in a draft of your history paper because it’s too rough, even though you need your professor’s feedback. You skip studying for a big econ test because unless you can review for three full hours on two straight nights, it’s not worth it.

If this sort of behavior sounds familiar, you might be a perfectionist.

Perfectionism can hurt us

Perfectionism can be much more significant in your life than some other personality quirks are. Research has found that perfectionist tendencies can solidify and grow, leading to behavior patterns that decrease productivity and increase the risk of developing serious conditions, including including obsessive-compulsive disorder and other anxiety disorders, and depression.

Perfectionism can also help us excel

But perfectionism is unlike many other health issues. While no good ever comes of tobacco use or driving drunk, perfectionism often boosts performance. LeBron James shot thousands of free throws before he mastered the skill. Pianists toil for years before they are skilled enough to play at Carnegie Hall. Monet set his canvas in the same spot day after day to capture every impression of leaf and sun.

Perfect red flags

But when perfectionism becomes maladaptive—that is, when it hurts more than it helps—it can harm students’ academic performance and personal relationships.“Generally, it’s a red flag when perfectionist efforts seem to be making things worse instead of better,” says Dr. Jesse Crosby, a researcher at McLean Hospital in Belmont, Massachusetts (affiliated with Harvard Medical School), who studies perfectionism.

Joel B. of Binghamton University, New York, says he suffers from anxiety because of his perfectionist approach to grades: “As a result of the anxiety/depression, my grades suffered even more.”

Warning signs for maladaptive perfectionism include:

• Procrastination
• Avoiding tasks
• Anxiety associated with trying to make everything perfect
• All-or-nothing thinking: e.g., “I don’t have this time to do it perfectly right now, so I’ll put it off”

Are you a perfectionist?

How people become perfectionists

Perfectionism can represent an emotional struggle. “Perfectionists have an emotional conviction that in order to be acceptable as a person they need to be perfect,” says Dr. Tom Greenspon, a psychologist and author of Moving Past Perfect (Free Spirit Publishing, 2012).

The origins of that struggle might be genetic, research suggests. In a 2012 study, identical twins rated much more similarly than fraternal twins for perfectionism and anxiety. But perfectionist tendencies, like other behaviors, are also shaped by our environment. You don’t “catch” perfectionism. Instead, your psyche, your lifestyle, and your surroundings help determine whether you gravitate toward it.

For example, a competitive academic atmosphere might prompt students to set unrealistic standards for their work. Mary,* a university student in British Columbia, says, “I am very hard on myself in general. I always have to get As. I was my high school Valedictorian.” Another trigger for perfectionist behavior is vague syllabi and assignments, which give students room to expect more from themselves than professors do.

Strategies to keep perfectionism under control

There’s more to perfectionism than your environment. Students, parents, and professors can use certain strategies to avoid the harmful effects of procrastination, says Dr. Crosby.

1 Chunk your projects
Professors can break large projects—such as a 30 page research papers—into smaller pieces to be submitted periodically. Ask your professors to consider this approach. For example:

Week 1: the topic and research questions. Week 2: an initial list of sources. Week 3: an outline. Week 4: a draft. Week 5: the final paper.

2 “Crack the door” on tasks
Completing even a small part of a project creates momentum and helps erode fears that a given task is too complex or difficult.

Professors can “crack the door” by collaborating with students on the first homework question, or by setting aside class time to help students structure a research strategy. Alternatively, make the first steps a collaboration with classmates.

3 Be flexible and prioritize
Take a flexible approach to reading assignments and other tasks. If you’re burning the midnight oil to take meticulous notes on an optional reading assignment, your standards may be too high.To cope with a heavy workload, Dr. Crosby says, you must prioritize. For example, when I was in law school, professors assigned hundreds of pages of heavy reading a week. I quickly decided that I would skip reading dissenting opinions—writings by judges that have no legal impact—and focus on the other stuff. Just like ER staff must stop the bleeding before they treat the headache, students can distinguish between tasks that need heavy attention and those that simply aren’t so important.

4 Remember that improvement, not total mastery, is the goal
“If something is on the syllabus, you’re not expected to know everything about it before you take the course or even afterwards”, says Dr. Crosby.

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