Why triggers matter
Health Canada explains that vaping triggers are often tied to daily routines and the things you associate with vaping. Recognising your own triggers and patterns is an important part of quitting, because it tells you where to focus your plan.
Common triggers Health Canada lists
- Walking or driving
- Drinking coffee or alcohol
- Texting or using your phone
- Relaxing after work or meals
- The smell of a vape or seeing someone vape
- Strong emotions — stress, anger, excitement — or boredom
- Being around people who vape, events and social media
How to find your own
For a few days, jot down when you vape or feel an urge: the time, where you were, what you were doing and how you felt. You're looking for repeats. Two or three entries isn't a pattern yet — give it at least a week before drawing conclusions, and remember that a pattern shows what tends to happen together, not what causes what.
Our free printable trigger tracker gives you a simple grid for this. In the CraveBreaker app, logging takes a few seconds and patterns only appear once you've logged enough to be meaningful.
A swap for every trigger
Smokefree.gov suggests switching things up when a craving hits. For each trigger, pick one specific, ordinary alternative. Some ideas:
- Coffee: hold the cup in your other hand, or drink it somewhere new.
- Driving: keep gum within reach, queue a podcast before you pull out, keep the vape out of the car.
- Work breaks: take a different route, or take the break with a coworker who doesn't vape.
- After eating: brush your teeth or wash your plate straight away.
- Stress: breathe out longer than you breathe in, five times; write the stressful thing down in one line.
- Social situations: keep a drink in your hand and decide your “no thanks” in advance.
The free craving tool suggests swaps for each of these in the moment.