About Humidifiers
Humidity is Linked to Many Health Complaints
Humidifiers can be very beneficial if used correctly. Increasing moisture levels in your home can help with a variety of ailments like asthma, allergies and other respiratory issues. Vaporizers can help kids with croup by reducing the breathing noise (sometimes called a stridor) and the coughing which generally accompanies it. Humidifiers can loosen mucus in the lungs, making it easier to expectorate. Humidified air can also reduce the coughing associated with respiratory syncytial virus infections.
Dry air can cause the following negative effects on your health and home:
- You may feel tired or lethargic because oxygen intake is harder in drier air and may contribute to a lower oxygen supply to your blood.
- You may suffer nosebleeds, sinusitis, bronchitis and other respiratory complaints.
- The amount of dust in the air may increase dust-related allergies.
- Dry skin.
- Itchy eyes.
- Increased colds and other viruses. A moistened windpipe washes and dilutes the germs.
- Pets suffer. Animals have many of the same health issues as humans and may suffer from the same symptoms. Birds, in fact, are the most susceptible.
- Furniture may dry out or become dull. Musical instruments may go out of tune.
- Static electricity will increase if the humidity level is less than 40 percent.
- You may feel colder than room temperature indicates. See relative humidity for details.
Types of portable humidifiers include vaporizers, which boil water and create a hot steam mist, cool-mist humidifiers which use a motor to force water dispersion into the air and, finally, ultrasonic humidifiers, which create a micro-fine mist when air is passed over a vibrating apparatus.
Adding sanitized water to the air is beneficial; however, the manufacturer’s instructions need to be adhered to. With the cool-mist humidifier types you must empty stale water after every use and disinfect the water reservoir because bacteria multiplies in sitting water. Remember that the cool-mist humidifier doesn’t boil the water, so collected bacteria spores will be dispersed into the air, creating more negative health effects than necessary.
