The best time to get a humidifier is during the drier, harsher winter moments. Although they are typically good for use anytime of the year. Dry air is usually unfriendly to the respiratory system. Even without medical issues, the skin and nose can still get dry which can cause dry mouth and cough. Usually, this makes you start the day on a draggy note and dampens the day already from the outset.
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Humidifiers are excellent for sustaining a healthy humidity level in your home. When the humidity level in your home is steady, you can protect the health of every member of the family. Also, it helps to keep your home and environment free from the consequences of dry air while increasing comfort indoor.
Humidifiers work to increase humidity indoor by diffusing a sheet of invisible delicate mist into the room. Else, an excessively dry atmosphere can create problems ranging from allergies and asthma to split lips, irritated throat, hemorrhage and broken skin. Dry air may also lead to sinus infections, cold and aggravated airways. This is in addition to causing cracked wood furnishing or flooring in the home.
All of the above effects are avoidable upon installation of a handy and affordable humidity monitor. The monitor alerts you to a high, low or ideal humidity level in the home while giving specific readings. Hence, a humidifier is an ideal must-have in every home.
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Ways A Humidifier Kills Illness & Reduces Utility Bills
1. Reduces Flu Outbreak
Increased humidity level can reduce the risk of infections from flu virus particles released through coughs. This is a finding published in the journal PLOS ONE. This 2013 study was conducted by testing the effects of relative humidity on a flu virus that was released through a stimulated cough that was to re-infect cells.
After a one-hour window, it was discovered that when the relative humidity of about 43% was released into the air, just 14% of the virus particles were still able to infect cells.
The researchers observed that most of the inactivation that occurred happened within 15 minutes of releasing the viral particles.
This leads them to the conclusion that maintaining a relative humidity level indoor at more than forty percent can greatly reduce infectious capacities of the aerosolized flu virus. Other research also found that a high level of humidity can limit the transmission of influenza virus.
This shows that getting a humidifier might be the disparity between flu infections and being healthy.
2. Provides a Warm Atmosphere In The Home
As well as helping to fight dry skin issues, humidifiers can help to make the home feel warmer. This is because an increase in atmospheric moisture causes an increase in warmth. For instance, a room with a temperature of 70 degrees Fahrenheit and 10 percent humidity will feel like 67 degrees while a room with 50 percent humidity will feel like 69 degrees.
A chilly atmosphere and falling temperatures usually mean an increase in your utility bills. However, owning a humidifier can help you to cut down on expenses and maximize every dollar spent to heat the home.
Paying bills can greatly reduce by increasing the warm atmosphere in the home without having to turn up your heater. A humidifier can help you do this.
3. Better Sleep and Less Snoring
Sleeping can be comfortable when you install a humidifier in your bedroom. In fact, it can help to stop snoring which worsens as a result of dry air or low moisture. Make an effort to sleep better and stop snoring by drinking more water and releasing humidity into the atmosphere while sleeping at night. Running a humidifier at night also helps to get rid of dryness.
When you use a humidifier in the bedroom while you’re sleeping at night, you will find that you’re content with the heat turned down a few degrees overnight. Afterward, all you’ll need to do is increase it 2 to 3 degrees in the morning so the furnace doesn’t run as hard by raising it all at once.
You will find that you will have a sound sleep without the turning and tossing. You will also feel more relaxed and warmer. All of which gets you a better night’s sleep.
4. Eases Congestion as a Result of Cold
Even though there is no cure for common cold, there are ways to reduce the sufferings as a result of a cold. A humidifier is one of such ways. Pediatricians often recommend humidifiers to ease congestion when a child comes down with cold. Adults too can enjoy the benefit of having a humidifier.
Congestions happen because breathing in dry hair causes the mucus in the sinus and nose to not flow properly. It, therefore, leads to sinusitis and sinus pain. However, a humidifier can help to correct this and bring moisture into the nose.
One of the functions of the nose is to provide humidity and warmth while cleaning the air that passes through. Heating systems often dry up the nasal passages and lead to increased allergies and sinusitis.
Also, a humidifier can help to soothe a sore throat. This makes everybody in the home environment be able to breathe better, causing sound sleep to abound. Because winter air tends to dry sinuses and lowers resistance to bacterias and virus, a humidifier is your best shot at breathing comfortably.
5. Improves Skin and Hair
During winter, the dry air blasting through your home can cause the skin to feel dry and irritated. This is especially the case for the skin on your hand because it possesses fewer oil glands. Dry air can also cause an increase in the rate of aging along with dullness and flakes on the skin. This also affects the lips which tend to dry and split easily as a result of dry air.
However, using a humidifier can stop all of the damaging effects of dry air. It helps you to maintain healthier, glowy skin throughout the holidays and beyond. It even decreases the presence of fine lines and creases, while enhancing the flexibility of the skin.
Not just on the skin, dry air also affects the hair. A humidifier in the bedroom at night can help to add external moisture to hair which prevents breakage and drying out. Its nourishing mist also helps to prevent a flaky, tingling scalp.
How To Choose A Humidifier
Humidifiers are available in multiple types with varying benefits and drawbacks. This makes it difficult to determine which brand of humidifier is best for a first-time purchaser.
A cool mist humidifier works by dispersing mist at room temperature. It usually reaches larger areas and utilizes less electricity than other types of humidifiers. A warm mist humidifier utilizes a heating component to heat the water before dispersing it into the room as warm, relaxing moisture.
Warm mist humidifier tends to use more electricity slightly. This is because they heat the water to a boiling point, but also tends to produce healthier moisture since the boiling process kills germs and impurities before they release into a room.
Another type of humidifier is an ultrasonic humidifier. These are available in cool and warm mist types too and are deemed the softest type of humidifiers available on the market today. The quietness of a humidifier is important, especially for areas such as bedrooms that need a tranquil environment.
Ultrasonic humidifiers use high-frequency sound waves to echo a metal diaphragm at ultrasonic frequencies, creating a fine, soothing mist. Since the sound waves are higher than we can hear, these humidifiers are obviously quieter than other models.
3 Best Humidifier To Buy
1. Vicks Warm-Mist Humidifier
This humidifier’s noise is reduced to a quiet buzz and comes with a container that supplies water to the boiling chamber. Here, water heats up to a pure steam vapor which is about 95% bacteria free. The steam mist than combines with the dry air in a cooling compartment and then the warm, moist air is released into the room.
This humidifier has two output settings, which includes a high setting for highest moisture for larger rooms. The low setting is sufficient for supplying humidity to a medium-sized room. It also comes with a soft glow nightlight, that makes it an ideal option for bedroom use.
The Vicks Warm-Mist Humidifier is relatively cheap to buy and comes with a one-year warranty.
2. Pure Enrichment Ultrasonic Cool-Mist Humidifier
The Pure Enrichment Ultrasonic Cool-Mist Humidifier possesses technology that helps it to safely and instantly add humidity to indoor air for up to 16 hours of continuous operation on the low setting. It comes with a 1.5-liter tank that supplies excellent coverage for rooms like bedrooms, bathrooms, and kitchens, and other average-sized rooms.
This humidifier is fit for use at bedtime. It comes with a soothing, soft glowing night light that induces maximum relaxation. The light can be turned on or off. It also features dual-speed control and a 360-degree mist vent.
This makes it easy to regulate the speed as well as the direction of mist. In case the water level gets low or the tank is removed, its automatic shut-off feature turns it off.
3. Honeywell Germ-Free Cool-Mist Humidifier, HCM350W Model
This cool-mist humidifier provides a 99.9% germ-free mist that will annihilate mold and mold spores, as well as viruses, bacteria, and fungus through a licensed UV technology for killing germs. It is remarkably quiet and can run for up to 24 hours with just one water storage container that holds two gallons.
A specially treated filter provides antimicrobial products to help sustain moisture balance for small to medium-sized rooms. Untreated tap water runs from the tank into the UV water, where UV light kills microbes.
That treated water then runs into the base where it is absorbed by a wicking filter. The dry air in the room is drawn through the filter where it absorbs moisture and is then spread into the air as a micro-fine invisible mist.
