Vaping triggers: how to map yours and break the link
Triggers are the times, places, feelings, people and activities that reach for the vape. Here is a worked trigger map, how to build yours from a three to seven day log, and what the evidence covers.
本文为英文。
A vaping trigger is the time, place, feeling, person or activity that reaches for the vape before you have decided to. Research on smoking suggests that the link between a situation and the habit is not the same for everyone. In one study of 214 smokers, the way each person's moods and situations were tied to smoking differed from person to person.1 So a list of triggers copied from someone else's quit story is a starting point, not a map. You need your own.
This guide covers five trigger types: time, place, emotion, people and activity. It gives a filled-in example table, shows how to build your own from a three to seven day log, and says plainly where the evidence comes from. If you want the craving steps for the moment a trigger hits, those are in our guide to vape cravings.
Why a cue sets off a craving#
Researchers call the pull from a cue cue reactivity. The best-known review pooled 41 cue-reactivity studies, comparing people with addictions to drug-related versus neutral stimuli. Across all groups the effect size for craving was +0.92.2
That review covers people dependent on alcohol, cigarette smokers, and cocaine and heroin users. It does not cover vaping, and it does not tell you which cue will matter for you. It tells you that the cue is worth finding, because the pull from a familiar place or moment is a real, measured effect in the research.
Vaping triggers: a worked trigger map#
A trigger map has four columns: the trigger type, a concrete example, what the vape gives you in that moment, and an if-then plan. The if-then plan is written as if X, then I will Y, with X a situation you can see coming and Y something you can do in the first few seconds. Here is a filled-in example. Replace every row with your own.
| Trigger type | Example | What the vape gives you there | Replacement plan |
|---|---|---|---|
| Time | The first ten minutes after I wake up, before I've had a drink | A start to the day that feels automatic | If I wake up and reach for the vape, then I will get a glass of water and leave the vape in the other room until I've finished it. |
| Place | The back step, where I always used to vape | A few minutes out of the room I work in | If I go out to the back step, then I will walk to the end of the street and back, with my hands busy, before I decide anything. |
| Emotion | A message from my manager that makes my chest tighten | Something to do with the stress, and a sense of control for a moment | If a message makes me tense, then I will name the feeling, set a five minute timer and run the craving steps until it goes off. |
| People | A friend who vapes, on a call or at the pub | Something to share and something to do with my hands | If someone offers me a puff, then I will say I'm off them for now and hand over my gum or my drink instead. |
| Activity | Finishing a meal, or the end of a long drive | A finishing touch to the activity | If I finish a meal, then I will clear the table and wipe it down before I think about the vape. |
Notice what the middle column does. It forces you to say what the vape is doing for you in that place. If the honest answer is nothing much, the plan has an easier job. If the answer is a real need, like a break from a stressful room, the plan has to meet that need, and a walk or a glass of water may not be enough. In that case the plan can be a different break, not a missing one.
How to build your own map from a 3 to 7 day log#
You can't build a map from memory. The automatic moments are the ones you won't recall, and a short log catches them. We suggest three to seven days, because it is long enough to catch a weekday and a weekend without becoming a chore. That window is our practical choice, not a number from a study.
- Log every puff or every craving, not just the ones you mind. Add the time, the place, who was with you, what you were doing, and how you felt from 0 to 10. Paper, a notes app or a tracking app all work, and our guide to tracking vape puffs covers why counting helps.
- At the end of each day, circle the repeats. Look for the same time block, the same room, the same person, or the same mood showing up two or more times. Those are your candidate triggers.
- Pick the three strongest and write an if-then plan for each. Use the table above as the format. Keep the plan short enough to say in one breath, because you will need to remember it in the moment.
- Test the plan for a week, then rewrite it. If the plan didn't fit the situation, change the then part, not the whole idea. Add a new trigger when the log shows one.
Expect the map to change. Triggers shift as your routine shifts, and a trigger that was strong in week one may be weak by week four. That is information, not failure.
How strong the evidence is for if-then plans#
The idea behind the if-then column is called an implementation intention: a plan that links a situation to a response. A large 2006 meta-analysis by Gollwitzer and Sheeran pooled 94 independent tests across more than 8,000 participants and found a medium-to-large average effect on goal attainment, as summarised by Wieber and colleagues in 2015.3 That work covered goals in general, not vaping or smoking.
The smoking-specific work is thinner. In a 2017 laboratory study of nicotine-deprived smokers, a task that measured how long people could resist smoking, the implementation intention alone had a small effect (d = 0.32), and monetary incentives had a larger one.4 That was 36 people in a lab, not a trial of quitting. We found no large trial of if-then plans for quitting vaping. So treat the if-then column as a tool that might make the plan easier to use, and expect the rest of your quit plan to do most of the work.
What to do with the map#
Use the map with the other parts of a quit plan. Your cravings script handles the minutes after a trigger fires. Your drinking plan, if alcohol is one of your triggers, is in our guide to quitting vaping when you drink. If you are not sure where to start, the practical guide to quitting vaping sets out the whole sequence.
ExHale keeps this log for you: every puff and craving with one tap, and the Stats and Health screens show the trends across your week, so you have a full log to read back and circle the repeats. Your personal quit plan then steps your nicotine down week by week, adapting to what you actually log, and craving SOS has box breathing, 4-7-8 breathing and quick minigames for the minutes after a trigger fires. The map is yours, and the research behind it is mostly about cigarettes, so keep it loose and check it against what you actually notice.
Questions about vaping triggers#
What are the most common vaping triggers?
Common triggers fall into five types: time (the first part of the morning, a break), place (a balcony, a car, a desk), emotion (stress, boredom, tension), people (a friend who vapes) and activity (finishing a meal, a long drive). The common ones differ from person to person, which is why a map built from your own log is more useful than a list copied from someone else.
How do I find my vaping triggers?
Keep a log for three to seven days. Record every puff or craving with the time, place, who was with you, what you were doing and how you felt from 0 to 10. At the end of each day, look for the same time, room, person or mood showing up two or more times. Those repeats are your candidate triggers, and the strongest three are the ones to plan for first.
What is an if-then plan for quitting vaping?
An if-then plan links a situation to a response, in the form: if this happens, then I will do that. For example, if someone offers me a puff, then I will say I'm off them for now and hand over my gum or my drink. Researchers call this an implementation intention. The best-known review of these plans covered goals in general, not vaping, and a smaller smoking lab study found a small effect.
Why do cues like a place or a friend make me want to vape?
Research on addiction calls this cue reactivity. In a 1999 meta-analysis of 41 studies, people with addictions to drugs, including cigarettes, responded to drug-related cues with stronger craving than to neutral ones. That work is on smoking and other drugs, not vaping specifically, but it may match your own experience of a familiar place or person bringing the urge back.
Do I need to avoid every trigger to quit vaping?
No. Avoiding every trigger is rarely practical, and it can make a quit feel like a list of things you can't do. A plan for the few triggers that keep coming back, plus a way to get through a craving when a trigger can't be avoided, is easier to keep up. The craving steps are in our guide to vape cravings.
References#
- Shiffman S, Balabanis MH, Gwaltney CJ, et al. Prediction of lapse from associations between smoking and situational antecedents assessed by ecological momentary assessment. Drug and Alcohol Dependence. 2007;91(2-3):159-68. pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/17628353/
- Carter BL, Tiffany ST. Meta-analysis of cue-reactivity in addiction research. Addiction. 1999;94(3):327-40. pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/10605857/
- Wieber F, Thurmer JL, Gollwitzer PM, Aarts H. Promoting the translation of intentions into action by implementation intentions: behavioral effects and physiological correlates. Frontiers in Human Neuroscience. 2015;9:395. Summarises Gollwitzer and Sheeran (2006), Advances in Experimental Social Psychology. pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC4500900/
- Moody L, Poe L, Bickel WK. Toward a laboratory model for psychotherapeutic treatment screening: implementation intentions and incentives for abstinence in an analog of smoking relapse. Experimental and Clinical Psychopharmacology. 2017;25:373. pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC5657006/
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