How Do Humidifiers Help With My Allergies?

When you experience dry air, you can have increased problems with allergies, sinuses, viral infections, asthma and respiratory issues, and suffer dry skin, noses, and throats. Dry air is the result of low indoor humidity levels, but a humidifier will add moisture back into the air in your home. Humidifiers help prevent dry skin, dry throats, sinus and allergy issues, and asthma problems.
 

Increased Allergies From Dry Air

Dry air usually happens during the winter when a furnace is working extra hard to heat your home. When the furnace is heating your house, it decreases moisture within the cold air outside and leaves little humidity for your indoor living spaces.

Your nasal passages become irritated when the air is too dry and can exacerbate your allergies, leading to sinus infections. Another problem for allergy sufferers is the excess mucus that is produced when there is too much dry air. Extra mucus can be especially dangerous for those with asthma, causing more breathing and respiratory problems.
 

Additional Problems With Dry Air

Aside from allergies, your immune system will struggle to fight viruses that thrive in a dry environment. When your skin becomes dry from low moisture in your home, you will suffer from itchy skin, bloody noses, scratchy throats, and static electricity. Dry air prevents your body from maintaining a warm temperature, and you will feel cold even when your thermostat reading shows the house is warm. If you experience eczema, your symptoms will increase with dry air.

Since dry air sucks the moisture from your skin, you will feel colder than you are. You will turn up the heat when it isn’t necessary and increase your energy usage. Dry air also shrinks the framing around windows and doors, producing gaps where cold air can seep in from the outside. These drafts will signal to your furnace that it needs to operate more to heat the home and make your home less energy efficient. You will experience damage to your home from dry air, resulting in cracks in your ceilings and walls and wood floors and furnishings separating.
 

How Humidifiers Help Allergies

A humidifier, especially a whole-home humidifier, will add moisture to your indoor air and alleviate many problems associated with dry air. Well-balanced humidity levels keep your nasal passages clear of mucus, allowing your body to purge allergens and other toxins successfully. A whole-home humidifier distributes balanced moisture to every inch of your house, reducing damage to your home and keeping you and your family healthy even during the cold and flu season.