When the cold season enters, what usually comes with it is the feeling of dry air that often makes your skin feel irritated. This reduces your skin moisture and affects your health in various ways. Whenever the air is dry and humid, it will not only affect your home but possibly your respiratory system as well. Common ailments caused by this are usually the following:

• Asthma
• Bronchitis
• General Dehydration
• Skin Irritation
• Eye Itching
• Sore Throat
• Make colds and flus worse

Controlling indoor humidity is not the easiest task. The recommended optimal range of humidity levels is between 30 and 50 percent humidity, according to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). A common solution to combat this is through the use of a humidifier to bring back moisture circulating in the air. Although it is common, there are a couple of misconceptions on its uses. Here, you will learn the benefits and limitations of using a humidifier in your home.

One of the most common places to put your humidifier is by your bedside while you sleep. There are a lot of benefits you can get by simply turning on your humidifier before you get a good night’s rest. The humidifier helps our immune system by amplifying the beneficial effects of sleep to our bodies. Here are some of its benefits you might want to know about:

1. Avoid waking up with colds and flu by promoting circulation of moisture in the air. There’s nothing worse than waking up to viral colds and flu.The levels of humidity in the air will contribute to the effectiveness of airborne viruses. This is why we are more susceptible to catching viruses during the winter season when the air tends to be more dry. The more moisture there is in the air, the more chances of the virus attaching to water vapor droplets and falling out of the air.
2. Improve your cold and flu symptoms when you use a humidifier at night and recover faster. This will definitely help your stuffy nose to help you sleep better as well. Having moisture in the air will help alleviate symptoms such as sore throat, sinus headaches, and helps loosen congestion and lubricate your nasal passages.
3. Alleviate the symptoms of allergy by making sure your throat and nasal passages aren’t dry. By using a humidifier, you can avoid a stuffy nose, sore throat, and sinus pain altogether and sleep well on top of it all. Those who suffer from allergic reactions tend to feel more comfortable with balanced humidity.
4. Keep your skin from drying out and cause serious skin irritations like eczema. Dry skin can easily lead to itchiness, cracks, and lesions when not taken care of. This is quite uncomfortable to deal with as movement may also become restrictive in areas where the skin is dry. What this brings is a restless sleep that will have you scratching throughout the night. Though using lotions and creams to moisturize your skin helps, the best way to help is to balance out the levels of moisture in the air.
5. Keep your hair and scalp healthy just like the rest of the skin all over your body when you use a humidifier. Collagen in the hair needs moisture and the scalp needs moisture to avoid drying and causing dandruff. With the humidifier, you can keep your hair and your scalp moisturized even in your sleep.
6. Help stop your snoring and improve sleep apnea by relieving the dry airways that causes it. When your airways are dry, it ends up producing more mucus to compensate and therefore create constriction that often causes audible vibration such as snoring.
7. Improve overall sleep quality by reducing humidity levels for optimal sleep conditions. According to studies by NASA, the ideal levels of humidity during sleep is between 50-60% (Flynn-Evans, Caddick & Gregory, 2016). Changes in temperature affects our sleeping patterns and decrease REM and cause you to stay awake. (Okamoto-Mizuno & Mizuno, 2012)

While these benefits seem to be more catered to adults, humidifiers are highly beneficial to babies and young children as well. It protects the health of their respiratory system and skin as much as it does to adults. The moisture in the air will let them breathe easier and help them get a good night’s rest.

A humidifier provides beneficial effects to your home and surrounding as well. Not only does it affect us humans but our home and furniture as well.

• Protect the wood in your home by avoiding the dry air to cause splits and cracks. This applies to all your furniture in the house that is made from wood. 
• Reduce the chances of creating static electricity when the air is not dry. No more surprising electric shocks when touching other people or your pets.
• Keep your plants happy and let them thrive. As commonly known, plants need moisture to survive and the dry air will only cause them to dry up.

• A humidifier can make your home feel warmer during the cold winter months. The more humid the air in your home is, the warmer it can feel. This can also help you save on those electricity bills for that heating system.

The levels of humidity vary depending on where you live. Just because you don’t experience winter does not mean you avoid dry air totally. During summer season when your AC is up and running, it dries out the air in your home as well. Using a humidifier can help you avoid the complications we have mentioned above. If you live somewhere where it is common to experience dry air, then feel free to use a humidifier all year round.

Do take note that while humidifiers certainly have a positive impact on us and our homes, they are not without cons. Here is a reminder to always make sure that you are on top of your humidifier’s maintenance as well. The water inside can cause bacteria to grow when not replaced daily. No matter how often you use your humidifier, make sure to clean it regularly and replace its filters for the best usage.

Written by Wonder Dream